Ryerson University j-prof John Miller has some critical words for how the news media covered the 1995 Ipperwash dispute -- and how they can do better in the future.
Most of the evidence of the failure of journalism at Ipperwash was presented to the inquiry by Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto, which sponsored a content analysis I did of nearly 400 stories printed in Canadian newspapers and periodicals on the Ipperwash confrontation. My analysis produced the following beginning thoughts about best practices:
Get context in every story: At Ipperwash, the media decided First Nations people were troublemakers. More than two-thirds of stories fit frames that suggested the occupiers' activities were questionable or illegal, rather than being caused by 53 years of frustration over broken promises to return the Stoney Point lands.
Know the history: The Stoney Point First Nation was given its land as a reward for helping to keep Canada British. But that land was expropriated for a military base before World War II and never returned.
Cover the human dimension: Tell what the impact is on people's lives (all sides). Only three of nearly 400 stories reported the occupation from the occupiers' perspective.
Be skeptical of sources: We now know the OPP either lied or was mistaken about who attacked first and whether the occupiers had guns (they did not). Yet reporters gave the OPP version precedence by an 8:1 radio over the conflicting accounts of First Nations sources.
"Why" is the most important question to answer: No reporters found out what really happened, which should have been their first job since none were present when the OPP marched in.
Avoid labels: Pejoratives like "rebel" and "renegade" were used to describe the occupiers, even though the Stoney Pointers were trying to get their own land back.
Assume stereotypes aren't true unless proven otherwise: A columnist for the Calgary Herald wrote: "Canada's First Nations would like us to see them as the strong and spiritual inheritors of a brave nation. That's tough when, as a visible minority, many of the natives we see are face down in flower beds or holding up the corners of seedy hotels."
Insist columnists independently verify facts before venturing an opinion: Only three of 92 opinion columns were written by journalists who went to Ipperwash.