A human rights complaint in Prince Edward Island may define who is considered a journalist — or at least who is allowed in the P.E.I. legislative press gallery
By Eric Mark Do, The Canadian Journalism Project
In October 2009, Stephen Pate, a local blogger and disability advocate was kicked out of the press gallery by a vote of 11-2.
He filed a complaint against the legislative press gallery a year later alleging that it was an act of discrimination based on his disability.
Pate has Post-Polio Syndrome and he says he’s confined to a wheelchair for much of the time. The discrimination allegations have not been proven in court or before a human rights panel.
The circumstances leading up to Pate’s removal from the gallery bring into question what a member of the press is allowed to do.
Stephen Pate offering Disability Fast Facts at the Charlottetown Farmer’s Market April 2007
Pate is the leader of Disability Alert, a group that advocates for rights of the disabled.
That group’s blog is now a part of Pate’s NJN Network, a blogging site. He is a director for both organizations.
It seems that the press gallery sees him as an advocate and not a journalist.
But Pate argues that advocating for disabled rights is not a conflict for a member of the press gallery. Pate cites former broadcaster and current lieutenant governor of Ontario David Onley, who also has post-polio syndrome, as an example of a journalist who advocated for disabled rights.
When Pate was a member of the press gallery in September 2009, he published a fake press release on his site and sent it to media outlets around P.E.I. stating the Government of P.E.I. formed a six-figure public private partnership to help disabled individuals have better access at a local library.
Pate contends it was a satirical piece; the current online version has disclaimers at the beginning and end, but one member of the gallery said there were no disclaimers when it was first published.
Less than a month later Pate’s press pass was taken away.
Wayne Thibodeau, press gallery president and a reporter for the Guardian, says he doesn’t agree with Pate that he is a journalist and expressed concern that his actions jeopardized the independence and freedom of the press in P.E.I.
“We were going to have someone there who was going to start tainting the media corps and was going to hamper the ability of journalists whether they’re working for traditional media or new media,” he says. “So that’s why we took the action that we did. Other bodies will determine whether or not we made the right decision.”
Thibodeau is named in the human rights complaint, along with another Guardian reporter, Teresa Wright, and a CBC producer, Donna Allen, all members of the press gallery.
Pate says he hasn’t returned to the legislature since he lost his press pass because the area reserved for the public is steep and he can’t walk there.
Pate’s complaint was initially dismissed as “without merit” by the executive director of the P.E.I. Human Rights Commission, but later overturned upon appeal by the chairperson.
Alan Parish, who is the lawyer for the press gallery members named in the complaint, has filed an application to the Supreme Court of P.E.I. for a judicial review of the chair’s decision.”
“The matter is now in the hands of the panel and they will decide whether to put the hearing on hold, pending the appeal or to continue with the panel process,” Anne Nicholson, chair of the P.E.I. Human Rights Commission said in an email to J-Source.
Pate says he hasn’t returned to the legislature since he lost his press pass because the area reserved for the public is steep and he can’t walk there.
“Of all the people who are journalists in P.E.I., I’m the only one with this disability and I’m the only one who’s not allowed to use the tools of journalism,” says Pate.
The next step in the proceeding, Parish explains, is the commission has to put together the record to be filed with the court. “That hasn’t happened yet and the ball is in the commission’s court.”
First image courtesy of Stephen Pate.
Second image was taken by Brian Simpson, provincial photographer, in 2012 and courtesy of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island. It shows the public gallery overhead with the media gallery just underneath.
To read more, please go to J-Source.ca
For additional comment see Time For Journalism To Give Up Myth Of Neutral Perspective by Sherwin Arnott and CBC Blocks Human Rights Hearing
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.”
Stephen Pate
There is of course more to this.
The PEI Press Gallery acted in bad faith, outside the Rule of Law, and accused me of being a paid lobbyist and member of special interest group. According to their definition of journalism, only big media are allowed to use satire or parody in the news.
What I believe is unconscionable is that the CBC, along with Standard Broadcasting and Transcontinental. are paying for the lawyer in the fight to keep this story from every being aired at the Human Rights Inquiry. How did the media change from riding in on the white horse to save us to the black horse?
The Press Gallery actef in bad faith since they invited me to join the Press Gallery, elected me to the position of Secretary Treasurer and then one week later held a meeting to eject me for a story published a month before my membership. That’s bad faith.
The PEI Press Gallery also acted outside to Rule of Law. This was their first meeting in 40 odd years. They have no constitution, no bylaws, no regulations so they sat around the table making up reasons to eject me. One expects that sort of thing happens in Russia or a tin-pot dictatorship but not Canada. Professional bodies may discipline members but they need a fair process based on rules first, the rule of law.
They did not accuse me of being an advocate. The press gallery called me a “paid lobbyist and a member of a special interest group”. Are we to believe that people who make their living with words don’t understand their meaning? An advocate is not a lobbyist and advocacy is a natural right in democracy.
The Library story was a satirical parody of the PEI Government’s inaction on disability human rights. If that’s going to become out-of-bounds for newspapers, radio and television CBC will have to drop Rex Murphy from The National, newpapers will fire their political cartoonists and journalism will indeed become a dull world. Of course, with media giants they can comparmentalize the jobs. At NJN Network, I have to do most of the work.
Paid journalism is in decline. The fire sale of the Boston Globe and Washington Post is a sign of the transition. Back in 2009 the fight was bloggers versus big media. That one is largely lost as most people get their information from the internet. I’ve been a journalist since 1964 and still know the craft. I chose to be independant for many reasons. the first one being it seemed smarter to be on the growth side of the curve.