Think Like a Historian: Vimy Ridge in Newspapers
These worksheets accompany the video Think Like a Historian: Vimy in Newspapers, which explores two newspaper accounts from Le Canada and The Globe in the days following the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
Newspapers from the time of Vimy Ridge offer important details and context about what Canadians read about the Battle and the war more generally. The political allegiances of newspaper editors and wartime censorship shaped the content that was published and how events were communicated. Most newspapers supported the war and censored themselves accordingly. Journalists often portrayed the war in a positive light to maintain and raise morale on the home front. In effect, news coverage had a dual purpose — to inform the public and to help win the war. This is something that historians need to keep in mind as they carry out their research.