Carney's crew bans select journalists from attending launch; approved media show no interest in defending Freedom of the Press
Plus! Needless opinion posts by staff heighten risk for CBC, which also wins praise for breaking Russian oil story
CTV News and others were quick, a couple of weeks ago, to pick up on the latest perceived assault on press freedom at the Washington Post, but when an armed police officer removed a member of the Alberta Legislature Press Gallery from a Liberal rally in Edmonton last week, they had nothing to report.
James Snell had registered to attend the launch of Mark Carney’s campaign to become leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and, through that, Prime Minister. He received confirmation in an email from George Chahal, the Liberal MP for Calgary Skyview whose unremarkable backbench career is best known for the shabby offense of removing Conservative campaign material from people’s mail boxes.
Snell was, however, told when he arrived for the event that he was not welcome. This matter was managed by another progressive operative, Stephen Carter, best known for running successful, profitable and, when necessary, ruthless campaigns for former Alberta Premier Alison Redford - who controversially paid him a $130,000 severance - as well as left wing Calgary mayors Jyoti Gondek and Naheed Nenshi, now languishing without a seat in the legislature as Alberta NDP leader.
Others, one a stringer for True North, were also excluded but I am less certain of their credentials. I also, full disclosure, have some connection with Western Standard. I advise it in an unpaid capacity on the rare occasions it posts editorials. Their publisher, the rambunctious Derek Fildebrandt, built the subscription-based platform from scratch and has refused to take government media subsidies in any form. He did once test the government-appointed panel that decides which news platforms can qualify for taxpayer support and Western Standard was approved. Currently, that panel includes some reputable people with whom I have also been associated: former Edmonton Journal publisher Linda Hughes, former Toronto Star editor Michael Cooke and Margot Goodhand, who served as editor of both the Journal and the Free Press. I have known one Western Standard editor, Dave Naylor, since he was a copy boy at the Calgary Sun 40 years ago. I also worked with another of its editors, Nigel Hannaford, at the Calgary Herald before I departed and he was lured away by Jim Prentice to write speeches for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. I consider them to be reputable journalists who work for a fiercely independent platform designed to appeal through commentary to conservative readers while professionally informing them of news events. Snell wrote and the Standard posted a more than fair report on what Carney had to say.
Chahal and Carter clearly have a different view. So, as is done in tinpot dictatorships, they had Snell removed by a police officer, claiming the occasion constituted a “private event.”
Readers might well wonder what is “private” about the launch of a campaign to become the leader of a G7 nation or if, going forward, only those whose Carney’s face shines upon will be permitted to attend and ask questions at his events.
But that’s the signal that was sent and apparently accepted by the nation’s media lambs, almost all of whom shrugged the incident off.
Not everyone, though. Holly Doan of Blacklock’s Reporter, another independent, subscription-based, refuses-to-take-government-money news organization, put it this way in a LinkedIn post:
“This government’s media control fetish is an embarrassment to our democracy.”
There were social media posts from the Toronto Sun’s Joe Warmington and Brian Lilley, who said Snell’s ban was “not a good look,” but that was all I could find.
If there were others, Snell hadn’t heard from them. He told me:
“I received no support from other media people. Not even members of the press gallery of which I am a member.”
Charming.
No mention was made by Chahal of Snell’s reporting on Facebook posts by the MP’s brother, Charan, who recently demanded oral sex from Calgary McKnight Conservative MP Shuvaloy Mujumdar and, his nose growing with every word, the Calgary Skyview MP declared that all local reporters had access to the event. That, it seems, was good enough for those fearful their peers in the salons and faculty lounges they frequent would ridicule them for defending freedom of the press for a right-of-centre platform.
The long and grubby campaign by news organizations to obtain government funding was based on their self-definition as “defenders of democracy.” Freedom of the Press is part of that and its defence is not selective. It applies to all or it applies to none.
I sent a request for comment on Friday to World Press Freedom Canada which, as with the Canadian Association of Journalists, had not remarked on the Snell ban and I will update if I hear back.
P.S. The Washington Post story covered by CTV and others was about how an editor there rejected a cartoonist’s caricaturization of Post owner Jeff Bezos and others on bended knees begging for favours (sound familiar?) from a politician, Donald Trump. The cartoonist quit in protest. I am unaware of any similar cartoons ever appearing in Canada where media executives have been known to ask politicians for help.
It’s difficult to fathom why CBC employees would continue to unnecessarily taunt conservatives. One would think the word would have gone out months, if not a couple of years, ago that the Mother Corp’s journos should adopt as vigorous a professional pose as possible - as Globe & Mail and others who value their reputations have - and avoid flashing their opinions.
If they have, Jason Markusoff certainly didn’t get the memo. Hot on the heels of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s visit to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago lair, the CBC writer, producer and regular member of Power and Politics Power Panel delivered quite the online takedown. Compiling photos of Smith with Trump, Jordan Peterson and Kevin O’Leary, Markusoff declared on X that “O’Leary has pitched on TV that Canada should, in fact, join the USA. Danielle Smith is one of the few premiers who hasn’t criticized Trump’s 51st state rhetoric.”
Not only is this prejudicial, it isn’t true. Markusoff corrected himself with a followup (parenthetic comments mine) comment: “O’Leary hasn’t explicitly endorsed statehood but his (scare quotes) “economic union” pitch is (scare quotes) “combining two economies” and (scare quotes) “erasing the border.’” Yes, in other words he was talking about a North American version of the European Union.
One could also argue his second allegation regarding the Premier’s implied Quisling status but the point here - in the context of The Rewrite’s mission - is what the actual is Markusoff thinking? The CBC - at least its English language service - could be bereft of funding a little over a year from now largely because displays of bias such as these have alienated a significant portion of the population.
Stunning piece of work by the team of Eric Szeto, Ivan Angelovski, Jordan Pearson and Christian Paas-Lang who revealed through CBC Investigates how Canada has continued to help finance Russia’s war on Ukraine by buying its oil through its “Shadow fleet.” Hats off.
Last week’s launches of The Full Press column and podcast with Harrison Lowman and Tara Henley on The Hub - another ruggedly independent platform that refuses to take government favours -were mildly delayed by technical glitches. If you missed them, check out the links. Watch for next week’s editions on Tuesday Jan. 28 and Thursday Jan. 30.
(Peter Menzies is a commentator and consultant on media, Macdonald-Laurier Institute Senior Fellow, a past publisher of the Calgary Herald and a former vice chair of the CRTC)
Nice to see Edmonton police going along with Carney's barring of journalists. It's like they have taken a page from the British police who will do anything they are told to except defend people (especially teenage girls) and democracy.
The cbc cannot help itself, it is what it is.
You should do a poll and see if there is even one conservative leaning person in a position of note.
I think not
MSNBC north, endless nonsense.