Two-tier health care, education, and policing: a comparative analysis of the discourses of privatization.

• Author: Cukier, Wendy
• Position: Canada

While there are similarities in the ways in which the debates on privatization of education, health care, and policing are constructed in the media, there are also differences. The discourses of privatization are often framed in different ways--questions of markets, efficiency, and service on the one hand and issues of equity, access, and social justice on the other. At the same time, a comparison of these discourses of privatization reveals some striking differences in their patterns:

1. There are significant differences in the volume of media coverage.

2. Although there are obvious conceptual parallels, there are significant differences in the argumentation that dominates the media.

3. There is much more evidence of value-laden language in discussions of health care and education than policing.

4. The diversity of stakeholders who participate in the discourses are also quite different and less pronounced in policing.

   Meme si les discussions dans les medias sur la privatisation de l'education, des soins de sante et du maintien de l'ordre se ressemblent a certains egards, on note egalement des differences marquees. Les discussions sont souvent presentees de facon differente : questions de marches, d'efficacite et de service d'un cote et questions d'equite, d'acces et de justice sociale de l'autre cote. En meme temps, si l'on compare les discussions sur la privatisation des soins de sante, de l'education et du maintien de l'ordre, on decouvre que les medias utilisent differents modeles :

1. Les differences sont importantes relativenlent a la couverture mediatique.

2. Malgre les paralleles conceptuels apparents dans les idees principalement vehicules dans les medias, on compte egalement des differences importantes parmi celles-ci.

3. Les discussions sur les soins de sante et l'education dans les medias sont davantage teintees de jugements de valeur que dans le cas de celles sur le maintien de l'ordre.

4. La diversite des groupes interesses qui participent au debat est differente et les discussions sur le maintien de l'ordre mobilisent moins de personnes.

   1. Introduction

      In recent years an emphasis on deficit reduction has led local, provincial, and federal governments to consider increased privatization of services once considered the exclusive domain of government. In Canada, the privatization of health care and education has provoked intense public debate among a wide range of stakeholders, including politicians, health/education workers and managers, academics, private sector organizations, the media, NGOs, and civil society. In contrast, the growing reliance on private sector security companies to provide services previously offered by federal, provincial, or municipal police services has not, in general, attracted the same level of attention nor has it engaged a broad range of stakeholders. This is in marked contrast to the situation in other jurisdictions such as South Africa or Latin America, where the proliferation of private security has been identified as a major threat to human rights and democratic governance. The media are, of course, the principal mirror in which such public discussion is reflected.

      The interaction between polling, the media, and policy has been the subject of much discussion (see Bradburn and Seedman 1989; Lavrakas and Traugott 2000). Understanding the nature of the media discourse on private security is relevant to assessing the context of public opinion and policy-making. Scholars have long discussed the role of the media in shaping public opinion and in agenda setting.

      The press is significantly more than a purveyor of information and opinion. It may or may not be successful much of the time in telling people about what to think, but is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about. The world will look different to people, depending ... on the map that is drawn for them by the media. (Cohen 1963: 13) The specific role of the media in a democratic society has been the subject of much discussion as well. Because the relationship between media and public opinion is bi-directional, in that media reflect as well as shape opinion, informed debate is critical to good public policy (Habermas 2002). However, the measures of "informed debate" are subjective, as are claims of bias. The Fraser Institute (1988, 1994), for example, has claimed that the Canadian media have a left-wing bias, while others such as Lawrence Martin (2003) have claimed that the Canadian press has a right-wing bias. Consequently, issues of "bias" seem often to be in the eye of the beholder. Nevertheless, it is possible to examine trends in the media, in terms of dominant discourses and points of view, as they potentially affect or reflect public opinion and policy-making, and that is what this article aims to do.

      This article compares the construction of the private/public debates in health care, education, and policing through an analysis of the public discourses it has generated. It examines the underlying assumptions, the espoused positions, and the stakeholders participating in the debate and suggests that few Canadian actors, to date, have recognized the "drift" towards private control of security as part of the same neo-liberal agenda that has inspired privatization in health care and education.

   2. Methods

      "Discourse" is a term that is used both by social theorists and linguists as institutionalized language codes to articulate the social construction of reality and events. The way in which we discuss an issue can shape (or limit) our understanding by reinforcing assumptions we had previously taken for granted. In politics, talk matters. Discourse analysis focuses on attempting to explore some of the ways in which the use of language itself structures our assumptions.

      Discourses of corporatization have been explored in a variety of contexts. For example, Fairclough (1995) focuses his critical analysis of discourse on the corporatization of the university, examining the ways in which the conception of the university (and education) has shifted increasingly towards market models of supply and demand. Discourse analysis differs from content analysis--which is often regarded as providing an "objective" assessment of media coverage, but has been critiqued for decontextualizing meaning--in that, despite significant methodological challenges, it focuses on "reading" texts to explore meaning (Jensen and Jankowski 1998: 121-148). Nevertheless, truthfulness, charity, legitimacy (participation), and sincerity are important standards for discourse, particularly in the context of policy-making. Consequently, an analysis of discourse must look beyond the argumentation to the use of language and the "experts cited" (Cukier and Eagen 2003: 27-28; Forester 1989).

      This article will apply the techniques of critical discourse analysis to the media discourses surrounding the privatization of health care, education, and security in Canada. The specific focus of the research is on the following questions:

1. How are the privatization of health care, education, and police represented by the media?

2. What are the similarities and differences?

3. Are there factors that may shape the way in which the discourses are (re)produced?

   Standardized searches of the CBCA database for the period 1995-2002 were conducted using the terms "privatization" and "two tier" along with "education," "health care," "policing," or "police" and "security." The study limited the analysis to print media and therefore is not representative of the full range of media. In addition, the period studied was prior to the Law Commission of Canada's "In Search of Security" conference, hosted in Montreal in February 2002. As the conference generated considerable attention and raised many questions about the issue of private security, an analysis of media discourse following the conference could show, significant changes in patterns and in the nature of the discourse.

   The data from the period examined are displayed in Table 1 below and, even in this summary form, show, the extent to which discussion of the privatization of health care dominates the debates about privatization, followed closely by the discussion of privatization of education. Privatization of policing, in contrast, does not register as an issue of significant debate nor does the notion of "two-tier" policing.

   Privatization and health generated more than half (61%) of the citations during the period, followed by privatization and education with 37%. In comparison, privatization and policing accounts for only 2% of the citations. Approximately 21% of the articles include references to privatization and security, although not all of them concern private security. The fact that the trend is seldom constructed as "privatization of policing" is, in itself, a significant finding. While the notion of "two-tier" health care is referenced 321 times and "two-tier education" 212 times, we see only 20 references to "two-tier policing" and only 124 to "two-tier and security."

   Understanding discourse requires looking beyond citation analysis, quantitative content analysis, or the denotative meaning of what is said. Often the images and associative language are as powerful as, or more powerful than, the specific argumentation. In addition, the range of perspectives, evidenced by the participation of a diversity of voices and key stakeholders is a standard for public discourses (Cukier and Eagen 2003: 27-28; Forester 1989). Accordingly, articles were coded in terms of argumentation, associative or "loaded" language, and experts cited.

   3. Privatization and public services

   Privatization of services such as health care, education, and policing entails the shift of responsibilities from government to the private sector and has caused significant concern in some segments of society. It is viewed as regressive by many commentators who challenge the notion that it is more cost effective:

   Privatization...