Degree
Master of Arts
Program
Kinesiology
Supervisor
Dr. Kevin Wamsley
Abstract
This thesis investigated the politically-charged responses of American and Canadian newspapers, the New York Times, Washington Post, Globe and Mail, and Ottawa Citizen, during October 1968 to the Mexico City massacre. Through a qualitative thematic analysis of these newspapers, dominant themes of the massacre were identified and analyzed using Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding paradigm. In this examination it was found that U.S. newspapers provided knowledgeable and comprehensive reporting of the massacre while Canadian newspapers presented only a cursory examination. The limited coverage of Canadian newspapers was examined against other Canadian media sources and official government and Olympic authority reports including: Canadian magazines Maclean’s and Saturday Night, federal government speeches, debates in the House of Commons, and Canadian Olympic Association personal documents and official reports. These divergent presentations of the massacre in their newspapers reflected the historically unique relationships each country had with Mexico, and prominence of the Olympics in world politics.
Recommended Citation
Petrella, John A.M., "Black, White, and Red All Over: A Thematic Analysis of Selected Canadian and American Newspapers Coverage of the 1968 Mexico City Massacre" (2014). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 2215.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/2215