Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs boycotts Winnipeg Free Press for ‘insensitive images’ of late grand chief
The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs says it is boycotting the Winnipeg Free Press over what it calls the publication of “insensitive images” of the assembly’s late grand chief that were taken shortly before her death last week.
AMC Grand Chief Cathy Merrick, 63, had been speaking to several media outlets when she collapsed outside Winnipeg’s law courts on Friday and was pronounced dead in hospital shortly after.
An image posted on the Free Press website on Friday showed a crowd of staff and supporters gathering around the grand chief lying on the ground. Her upper body was partly visible, while her face was obscured by those crouching around her.
It sparked backlash on social media, including from former Long Plain First Nation Chief Kyra Wilson, who said on Facebook that the media and other individuals “have no right” to post pictures of the “deep loss suffered by our community.”
The image was removed from the Free Press’s website at 8:51 p.m. on Monday — 72 minutes after the AMC issued a news release announcing its boycott of the news outlet.
A different image of the scene outside the courthouse was printed in the Free Press’s physical newspaper on the weekend. It shows several people around Merrick from farther back, though her ribbon skirt and feet are still visible through the crowd.
“After careful deliberation, the executive council has unanimously decided to boycott the publication for its unethical and disrespectful coverage of the tragic passing of our beloved Grand Chief Cathy Merrick,” AMC said in a news release Monday.
The AMC, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and several First Nations leaders sent multiple requests to remove the images to the Free Press, but the publication refused, the AMC said.
“Their response to our requests was to suggest that the AMC and First Nations leadership should ‘see some value’ in the images,” the AMC said in its release.
“This response is not only an affront to ethical journalism but also to the basic principles of human decency.”
The AMC said it will not give any interviews to the Free Press, and the publication will not be invited to any of its events. The AMC also asked that all chiefs and allies refuse interviews with the newspaper, encouraging businesses to cancel subscriptions and advertisements with the outlet until further notice.
“As directed by the executive council, the AMC will uphold this boycott until a satisfactory response is received from the Winnipeg Free Press,” a spokesperson told CBC News in an email on Tuesday.
Although the Free Press removed the image from the online article, the AMC said the boycott of the newspaper will continue.
‘Things have changed’
The situation poses a crucial question for news editorial boards: Should personal loss trump the publication of sensitive images of important political figures?
Nicole Blanchett, an associate professor of journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University, said she can understand the Free Press’s reasoning for publishing images of Merrick after she collapsed but also the subsequent backlash.
“I can see the news organization looking at this and saying, ‘This is a picture of something happening in real time. There’s news relevance to this, because this is an important public figure,'” said Blanchett, who only viewed the image that was printed in the weekend newspaper.
“It’s showing this sense of urgency,” she said.
“But for anyone who has lost someone, for anyone who has a relationship with the person who’s lying on the ground, it’s a very different experience looking at this photo.”
The Free Press’s perception of the images of Merrick likely differs from the perception of Indigenous people, who have faced a long history of “bad journalism,” Blanchett said.
“We do need to listen [particularly to] the Indigenous community about how their images are being used and whether or not we should be using them,” she said.
The fact the Free Press removed the image from its online article is a sign that “things have changed,” Blanchett said.
“It really represents a shift in the idea that newsrooms and journalism organizations are the only ones who have control over what’s acceptable journalistic practice,” she said.
“Now there’s enough pushback that it’s actually changing the practice in newsrooms.”
The AMC previously boycotted the Winnipeg Sun newspaper and its parent company, Sun Media, in 2014, under former grand chief Derek Nepinak, for what it called “discriminatory reporting and biased editorial against Indigenous peoples,” following coverage of the death of Tina Fontaine.
Blanchett said what’s clear is that the newspaper’s relationship with AMC needs to be repaired.
“I think that really it’s just a situation that’s going to lead to a whole lot of conversations about journalistic practice and … how best to build community, especially with, you know, underserved communities [who have] not always been served well by journalism to begin with,” she said.
CBC News requested comment from the Free Press but has not received a response.
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