Stephen Pate at Legislative Committee photo:Guardian

PEI Press Gallery became the press gang as they conducted show trial of blogger for writing satirical parody of the government. Despite protests of pain, exhaustion edema, and lack of due process the meeting was not adjourned.

PRLog

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Oct 21, 2009 – Last night’s expulsion of satirist and blogger Stephen Pate was a travesty of justice from professional journalists.

Pate was supposedly expelled for writing a satirical parody of an official government press release. The apparent reasons were the orders given to the Press Gallery by the Speaker of the PEI Legislature.

“A show trial in communist China could have approached the lack of due process and fairness at the PEI Press Gallery,” said Pate. “Even in Russia they gave people lawyers. This was like a banana republic where the government is talking to the judge throughout the trial to make sure they get a conviction.”

“Can you imagine a trial with a parking ticket that ends expanding the scope and number of charges from the moment the judge opens the court? That was how Wayne Thibodeau, senior political reporter for the Charlottetown Guardian, conducted the meeting.”

In a fair court system, both sides spend months even years getting the charges straight, discovering evidence with due care, examining witnesses so that no injustice occurs.

“A kangaroo court or kangaroo trial, sometimes likened to a drumhead court-martial, refers to a sham legal proceeding or court. The colloquial phrase “kangaroo court” is used to describe judicial proceedings that deny due process rights in the name of expediency.” Wikipedia

“The outcome of a trial by “kangaroo court” is essentially determined in advance, usually for the purpose of providing a conviction, either by going through the motions of manipulated procedure or by allowing no defense at all.” Wikipedia

Secret societies like the Press Gallery of PEI don’t have to follow court procedures. They would follow Roberts Rules of Order. Any society can expel a member without cause and without a trial. Organizations rarely do that since it seems dictatorial.

Roberts Rules of Order ensure the process is fair and quick. Once a society decides a trial is necessary the rules are simple. “The clerk should send the accused a written notice to appear before the society at the time appointed, and should at the same time furnish him with a copy of the charges,” says Roberts Rules of Order.

The Press Gallery sent Pate a public notice stating “The executive has received several complaints about a news release dated Sept. 29, 2009 issued by yourself and NJN Network, among other concerns. The news release is purported to be from the Prince Edward Island government but in an email dated Oct. 9, 2009, you have confirmed that indeed you were the author of that news release.”

“The charge was essentially that I created a fraudulent press release,” said Pate. “I prepared myself for that. My defense was simply that the press release was a clever and witty satiric parody of the government’s lack of action for the disabled.”

“I brought with me a satirical cartoon from the morning’s newspaper. Satire is a the stock in trade of the media.”

“The actually charges – and there were two pages of handwritten bullets – were so broad and numerous, the process was immediately prejudicial to a fair hearing.”

“I asked the Chair to restrict himself to the original charge, which one would expect according to law and Roberts. He refused.”

CBC reporter Pat Martel objected to widening the issues to include anything other than the written charge. The chair refused again.

“The reason is simple,” said Pate. “The whole exercise was a show trial, a kangaroo court with trumped up charges and a foregone conclusion from the Speaker’s office. The result was known before we began – I was to be expelled.”

Pate at the outset asked the meeting to accommodate his disability. He stated he was in pain, exhausted with post polio fatigue and was suffering from edema.”

“I needed to go home to put my leg higher than my heart. I asked for a morning meeting but the chair refused to acknowledge my disability.”

It is hard to imagine a less democratic process under the control of professional journalists.