Publics in local media reporting on harm reduction: Rightfully worried local witnesses or uneducated obstacles to change

When the representation of the worried public is repeatedly echoed by the media, it becomes hard to ignore in policy-making processes. Public opinion regarding local experiences of individual drug use and harm reduction is depicted as being driven by fear and worry over living alongside “messy others”, thereby producing a public of worried local community witnesses. This production of the public takes on two different meanings depending on the narrative of the articles: 1) as righteous and entitled, 2) as ignorant and irrational. As a result, the public comes to operate as either a consulted public deserving consideration in the implementation of harm reduction policies or as an uneducated political obstacle to change.