Defending censorship of the press should not be CBC’s job in Pate-gate
Canada has a culture and legal system based on “freedom of the press.” Whenever dictators and totalitarian governments censure, jail and murder journalists we gasp collectively.
Why then did CBC send its employees to a hastily staged meeting of the PEI Press Gallery in October 2009 to shut down an electronic journalist? I can’t find anywhere in the CBC’s mandate that news censorship is on their agenda.
“In pursuit of our mission to express Canadian culture and enrich the democratic life of this country,” said Hubert T. Lacroix, CBC President and CEO, “we strive to be a socially minded organisation in everything that we do.”
Lacroix was expanding on the Canadian Charter of rights and freedoms that makes freedom of the press and freedom of expression part of our law and culture. Do you read the word “censorship” in Lacroix’s statement? I can’t. One would think CBC would keep miles away from trying to squelch other news media.
Yet that’s what has happened for over three and a half years on PEI. CBC’s employees wanted to stop me reporting PEI political news. The easiest way to do that was restrict my access. They took away my press pass.
I find the affair appalling. Can it be explained by PEI’s perceived status as a sleepy province, personal vindictiveness or disability bigotry? CTV national once said the only stories worth reporting from PEI were about lobsters, potatoes and the “Island way of life.”
The scary part is that CBC is defending the censorship and discrimination all the way to the top.
CBC Charlottetown didn’t like that I advocated for the disabled and other minorities and that we reported on those issues. That of course is none of their business if CBC is all about a free press and free expression. They report their stories they way they see fit.
Freedom of the press means I get to report my stories as well, without their interference. A free press ensures the public is protected by excesses in government and the justice system.
CBC reported that I was expelled from the press gallery but not the fact their employees made it happen, why and how. Those are material facts the public did not hear from the CBC. See Media got it wrong in Pate-Gate.
It’s also the sort of thing CBC regularly accuses the Harper government of doing, hiding the news from taxpayers. On May 2nd, a CBC story read DFO gets F in free expression from journalism group.
“Fisheries and Oceans Canada was singled out “for its zeal in muzzling scientists and keeping critical research findings from Canadians,” read the article. Readers were obviously presented with a negative story on news censorship by the Harper government. They got the message and filled 9 pages with anti-government comments about censorship.
CBC News Producer Donna Allen – journalists could not be “an advocate…for people with disabilities.” (CBC photo)
When I filed a PEI Human Rights Complaint, CBC hired a lawyer to defend its employees.
That’s normal but what were they defending? CBC was hiding the news, censoring another media outlet, and discriminating against a person with a disability trying to earn a living.
When the Human Rights Commission said a hearing was necessary to decide the facts, CBC got its lawyer to find to defend the indefensible – they don’t want the public hearing to happen.
CBC filed a application for a judicial review so that the story never gets out. They want a stay of all proceedings so the public will not get the facts. If the truth sets you free, the truth in a public hearing should clear CBC of all charges.
When a local CBC reporter tried to report the human rights story last week, he was told to kill the story. I suppose the story is embarrassing to Canada’s national broadcaster but probably less than a story on cod stocks might embarrass Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The press gallery complaint and trial
The CBC employees voted to strip me of his press pass for being associated with a volunteer disability group. That sounds crazy but it’s true.
CBC Producer Donna Allen made it clear when she said in the press gallery meeting “The issue for that stood out for me was the lobbyist and special interest groups and particular point of view as opposed to even-handed points of view. I just want to know if you’re an advocate or a lobbyist for people with disabilities.”
Stephen Pate handing out Disability Fast Facts at Charlottetown Farmer’s Market 2007
I didn’t deny my volunteer membership in PEI Disability Alert.
Disability rights and abuses are important stories we reported along with Francophone rights, and veterans rights.
Despite the fact the freedom of association is a protected right in Canada and specifically on PEI, Allen said journalists could not be “an advocate…for people with disabilities.”
If we extrapolate that statement, CBC is against journalists who might belong to or advocate for any minority, like women’s rights and gay rights.
If this is making any sense to you, let me know because it’s totally against Canadian values and our fundamental legal rights, legal rights CBC should be fighting for not against.
Ontario Lieutenant Governor David Onley, a highly praised journalist and disability advocate
Meanwhile in Ontario, CityTV journalist and disability advocate David Onley was praised for the same dual roles and appointed to Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
The other press gallery charges were so flimsy that CBC reporter Pat Martel said “if this is all we have hang Stephen, we don’t have much.” One sane voice didn’t hold water in a room full of sharks during feeding time.
What part of the billion dollars the taxpayers of Canada give the CBC every year is earmarked for killing the competition, reducing the number of media outlets and beating on people with disabilities?
Proud of the CBC our national broadcaster
Most Canadians are proud in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It’s our national broadcaster, part of what makes us uniquely Canadian.
The CBC has been a strong part of my life. My father was hired by the CBC in Halifax as a reporter before the first broadcast in 1954. He worked as a CBC journalist until he retired. I worked for the CBC Radio as a reporter while still in high school and had a weekly national radio broadcast.
The CBC values of fair news reporting were part of our family culture. It’s what my dad believed in. Back in the 50s and 60s I can remember my dad going to the mat with the CBC Regional Director over reporting stories that might embarrass the government.
Freedom of the Press
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms enshrined the concept of a free press as a fundamental freedom, adding the right of non-traditional media in the phrase “other media of communication.”
Fundamental freedoms
s-2.Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.
Those small phrases have deep meanings but the obvious one is that freedom of the press is guaranteed. The Supreme Court has included bloggers or electronic journalists in the group along with big media such as the CBC. You can help NJN Network win Pate-Gate case by donating to our legal expenses.
Video is copyright CTV News allowed use as Fair Dealing under the Canada Copyright Act, Section “29.2 Fair dealing for the purpose of news reporting does not infringe copyright if the following are mentioned: (a) the source; and (b) if given in the source, the name of the (i) author, in the case of a work, (ii) performer, in the case
of a performer’s performance, (iii) maker, in the case of a sound recording, or (iv) broadcaster, in the case of a communication signal.”
Leave a Reply