Abstract

A confrontation with police at Ipperwash Provincial Park in 1995 resulted in Canada’s first death of a First Nations protester in more than 100 years of land claims disputes. No media were present when police marched on a small band of protesters occupying the park, but nearly 400 newspaper articles appeared in the month after the shooting of Dudley George. These included 275 news articles, 64 opinion articles (editorials and columns) and 55 letters to the editor. These were analyzed to determine how they conformed to journalistic standards of verification and accuracy: Which sources were relied on; how were the stories framed; whose version of events was given prominence; was the opinion based on fact or stereotypes? This analysis found significant problems with the coverage. It also developed a new “framing” model for stories involving aboriginal-police confrontation.