Feminist Media Project :: Poll Release

Public split on interest in Pickton trial
Media generally seen as behaving responsibly to date; Women want less coverage of sensational details

The first poll on public interest in the murder trial of Robert Pickton has found that slightly more than half of British Columbians (52%) are interested in media coverage of the case, with slightly less that half (46%) not interested. Vancouver residents are also significantly less interested in the trial than those who live outside of the Lower Mainland. Only 1 per cent are not aware of the trial.

Despite the split results on interest in the upcoming trial, the majority (53%) found the amount of media coverage to date "just right," with one-fifth (21%) saying it is "too much" already. British Columbians also feel that the media have behaved responsibly to date, with 75 per cent agreeing with that statement.

The poll, which was conducted by Mustel Group for the Feminist Media Project at the UBC School of Journalism, gauged public interest in the trial, which starts on Jan. 22 and is expected to garner international media attention while leading the mainstream news agenda in British Columbia.

This poll, and one completed previously by the CBC involving the trial of Paul Bernardo for the sexual murders of two young women in the mid-1990s Toronto, found similar results suggesting that a significant proportion of the public were not interested in media coverage of that trial. That study of 1,000 respondents found that 46 per cent agreed that media were paying too much attention to the trial; 36 per cent disagreed. Also, more than half, 52 per cent, said the coverage was so upsetting, they would prefer not to be exposed to it. Only 33 per cent disagreed.

These results conflict with the perception that sensational crime stories, such as serial murder, sexual homicides and/or homicides involving children, drive audience interest. These types of crimes tend to gain large amounts of media coverage in North America - with crime and violent content filling between 20 and 25 per cent of the news section in newspapers and on television. This is despite the fact that no systematic evidence exists that audience members consistently prioritize crime content over other types of news information, such as environment and health news. In fact, at times, it may be the reverse.

With respect to the reporting of salacious and disturbing details from the trial, which involves the murders of six women, whose bodies were found in various states of dismemberment/degradation on a farm in the Lower Mainland, the clear message was that the public felt less was more. Fifty-six per cent said the media should "restrict violent and sexually explicit details," while just over one third (37%) said the public should know as much detail as possible.

Finally, women were significantly more likely (63%) to want less detail and restrictions on violent and sexually explicit content than men (49%).

These results were based on a survey of 806 B.C. adults between January 3 and January 10. The margin of error is 3.4% at 95% confidence level in the most conservative case.

Dr. Mary Lynn Young, Assistant Professor
UBC School of Journalism
604.822.9778
mlyoung@interchange.ubc.ca