Summary
"The focus of this study is on racial discourse in print media. Given that knowledge of the Black community is often limited to what people receive in media publications, it is important to investigate the accuracy of messages that are being communicated. A content analysis of articles relevant to police shootings of Black and white victims as reported in the 1980s and 1990s in The Toronto Star newspaper provided the primary data source. The analysis employed a critical Social Dominance framework to identify strategies used in this medium and further applied those tenets to thematic foci in the print articles. The goal is to determine the potential impact of racial discourse on its respective readership with regard to perceptions of the Black community during the specified time. It is expected that exposure of the ideological implications uncovered in this study will influence future policy reforms for a more egalitarian society."--Page ii.