Spotlight focuses on media in Winnipeg General Strike book

Ninety-five years ago this week, Winnipeg was ground to a halt by its now-famous general strike.

On May 15, 1919, 24,000 workers walked off the job. They were later joined by another 6,000, beginning the largest strike in Canadian history.

To mark the event, author and historian Michael Dupuis is launching his new book Winnipeg's General Strike: Reports From the Front Lines.

Dupuis' book looks at how media covered the events, and how that "first rough draft of history" shaped the outcome of the strike.

At the time of the strike, Winnipeg had three daily papers, which were temporarily put out of business because of the strike. Two new dailies emerged: one that supported the strikers, and one against them.

A press war began and because the strike became such a big story, reporters from other Canadian and even American cities arrived in Winnipeg, giving the event national coverage.

From the fears of Bolshevism to the fight for workers' rights, Dupuis' book gets to know the journalists behind the stories of the strike, and explores the conspiracy theories emerged through the media at the time.