Schools in several Canadian provinces and American states will be just as affected by the April 8 eclipse, but the decision to close them has not created psychodrama like in Quebec, experts analyze.
• Read also: Everything you need to know about the solar eclipse
Between 1er February and last Thursday, the subject of the eclipse generated coverage of nearly 14,000 news and other media content in Quebec.
“It’s huge,” says Pierre Gince, president of Mesure Média, a public relations firm that measures reputations. “It’s even more than in Ontario, even though there is a larger population there.”
Photo Claude Lussier / Measure Media
For more than a month, the total solar eclipse of April 8 has been the subject of much discussion, particularly due to the controversial decision of certain school service centers to declare an educational day on that day.
- Listen to the interview with François-Alexandre LaRose, project manager at Mesure Média on Mario Dumont’s microphone on QUB:
Few reviews
However, the eclipse will also pass in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Ontario, as well as in many American states from Maine to Texas.
How do we manage elsewhere? Many schools will be closed or will let their students leave early in other provinces. This will also be the case in Indiana, Ohio, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania and Vermont, according to the magazine Newsweek.
However, unlike in Quebec, it is very difficult to find articles criticizing or commenting on these decisions.
In the rest of Canada, a lot of content on the subject is made up of reports from Quebec and reproduced there, notes François-Alexandre LaRose, project manager at Mesure Média.
In the United States, there are nearly 140,000 news stories on the subject for a population 40 times larger. “To have the same level of coverage as in Quebec, the Americans would have had to generate more than 500,000,” estimates Mr. LaRose.
Extremely predictable
“All this psychosis is still special,” admits Mélanie Laviolette, president of the Federation of Parents’ Committees of Quebec.
What explains the negativity in Quebec are the late, ambiguous or contradictory instructions from the Ministry of Education, which prevented schools from preparing well, judge several speakers.
“The problem is improvisation,” says Mme The violet. “We are a week away from the event, and there are still schools wondering [ce qu’ils] are going to do, where the parents are almost unaware of what is going to happen,” she observes.
However, the solar eclipse is an extremely predictable phenomenon. “It adds a layer of incomprehension. We should have made a decision a long time ago and maintained it,” summarizes Sylvain Martel, from the Regroupement des committees de parents nationaux du Québec.
“This is an issue that the Quebec government has poorly communicated since the start of the school year in September,” analyzes Pierre Gince. This has also resulted in “a significant reputational deficit for Minister Drainville and the ministry”.
MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE ECLIPSE
News published between 1er February and March 28, 2024:
Quebec: 13,858
Ontario: 11,104
New Brunswick: 1568
United States: 137,995
Source: Media Measurement