NDP seeking to muzzle opposing journalists

[Rwede]

NDP seeking to muzzle opposing journalists


Full story here: http://m.edmontonsun.com/2016/02/15/ndp ... ournalists

Outrageous is an overused word in politics, but this is truly outrageous.

Former Sun Media columnist and Sun News Network host Ezra Levant’s new online news site, The Rebel (therebel.media), has become one of Albertans’ top Internet sources of reporting and commentary in just its first year in operation.

So how come Rachel Notley’s NDP government is doing its best to censor Levant and his reporters?

If I hadn’t read for myself the letters back and forth between the Rebel’s lawyer and the government, I wouldn’t have believed even the NDP were capable of such anti-free speech behaviour.

Back in late January when it was announcing the results of its royalty review, the NDP held a closed-door technical briefing (a “lock-up”) where government experts explained the details to journalists.

When Rebel contributor Sheila Gunn Reid showed up for the briefing, she was turned away. The event was for “accredited media only.”



SNIP



The NDP government doesn’t question the legitimacy (nor should it) of online lefty journalists such as David Climenhaga of the NDP-friendly rabble.ca or Dave Cournoyer, a communications advisor for the United Nurses of Alberta, whose daveberta.ca blog is a must-read on Edmonton and Alberta politics.

So why single out Reid?

It couldn’t be, could it, that Reid’s bestseller is entitled The Destroyers: Rachel Notley and the NDP's War on Alberta, or that Reid and her boss (Levant) were among the first journalists to out the radical, out-of-province pasts of many senior political staffers in the NDP government?

But it gets worse.

When an NDP staffer learned that Reid’s Rebel colleague, Holly Nicholas, was already in the royalty briefing, the staffer entered the lock-up and kicked Nicholas out.

Later that day, Marcella Munro, the premier’s “outreach” director in Calgary (and a former campaign aide to anti-pipeline Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and anti-pipeline NDP leader Adrian Dix), kicked Reid and Nicholas out of the common area of a downtown Calgary hotel where they were waiting to interview an oil industry spokesperson.

The next week, the NDP placed The Rebel on a “no-go” list and had the mild-mannered, very polite Reid escorted out of the legislature by a sheriff to prevent her from attending a news conference given by Notley and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. She was not making a fuss; she was simply trying to check in at the security office.

When Levant hired highly respected Edmonton media lawyer Fred Kozak to have the Rebel bans lifted, the NDP had Justice department lawyer, Jason Fung, provide a curt, one-sentence response: “Our client’s position remains that your client and those who identify as being connected to your client are not journalists and are not entitled to access media lock-ups or other such events.”

Levant has been a journalist for more than 20 years for Alberta Report, the National Post and the Suns.

It is very dangerous in a free society to give politicians, bureaucrats or government lawyers the power to determine who is and isn’t a journalist. That could lead to censorship, or at least to holding accreditation over the heads of reporters who are critical of the government.

Prior to the Premier-PM news conference, legislature press gallery president, Darcy Henton of Postmedia, recognized Reid’s legitimacy to attend. That should be more than good enough for the Notley government.

Imagine the news you’ll get if Notley and her staff may decide who can and can’t do the reporting.

[logicalview]

what??? I thought only Harper engaged in these goon-style political antics? Actually, I don't recall any Conservative media representatives kicking out anyone from any news conferences anywhere. What the NDP are doing here is far worse. This reminds me of the time Suzuki had his goons kick out a female Sun News reporter from one of his media news conferences, only to have Elizabeth May run outside and get the reporter and bring her back inside. I had to respect Lizzie on that one.

Where is the outrage here about the NDP's actions??? Where is the anger??? Oh the hypocrisy. Once again we see the hypocrites in the left staying mum purely out of partisanship. Disgusting.

[hobbyguy]

Although I have an extremely low opinion of Ezra, that does not mean that his organization should be excluded.

It is a sad commentary, however, that such a truth twisting provocateur is so popular.

Better to have him out in the open, and understand the sad reality of his attraction than to try to suppress him. "Know thine enemy" and all that. Then be proactive, and try to bring the folks that follow such a crass exploiter around to a more reasonable position.

I may not consider Ezra to be a journalist, but that is not my call, and it is a arrogant of the NDP to try to make that call.

[logicalview]

it is a arrogant of the NDP to try to make that call.

isn't it also "anti-democratic"? Isn't that what all of the anti-Harper boobs were screaming endlessly for four whole years because the Conservatives controlled the message with the media? What the NDP is doing is far worse. They are allowing access by non-accredited leftist bloggers but excluding journalists solely because they don't agree with Notley and her band of NDP ding-bats. This is just not acceptable.

[Rwede]

Wow, Notley is deploying thugs to censor the media.

People should be outraged!

[Atomoa]

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canad ... ic-fascist

"Legitimate journalism".

Consider the death threats sent to the Alberta NDP. If we checked the internet tough-guys Facebook pages they would be littered with THE REBEL "call to arms" articles.

[fluffy]

I think the smart money is staying away from the table for the time being. I think I'd like to hear a more objective version of this story.

One might ask why these "reporters" do not have a valid press card already?

[logicalview]

"Legitimate journalism".

And how did I know that there would actually be people willing to apologize on behalf of the NDP wing-nuts. What a surprise.

Consider the death threats sent to the Alberta NDP.

I would consider them, if there were actually any that were sent. There were no death threats "sent to the Alberta NDP". What happened was the same thing that happened when the poor Canadian nuclear scientist, who somehow made it through the fake "muzzling" he was supposedly subjected to by the Conservatives, proclaimed that Fukishima had caused no harm. Death threats were made against him by anonymous enviro-nutbags on various social media sites.

If we checked the internet tough-guys Facebook pages they would be littered with THE REBEL "call to arms" articles.

And if we checked the Internet tough-guys Facebook pages who made death threats against the Canadian nuclear scientist, would they be littered with GREENPEACE "call to arms" and SUZUKI FOUNDATION lies and gibberish? Go ahead, check the internet tough guys who threatened Notley on social media, but what does this have to do with the fact that the idiot NDP is banning journalists from participating in government press conferences? ZERO!!! Shame on the NDP!!! What a bunch of idiot clowns.

[Rwede]

I think the smart money is staying away from the table for the time being. I think I'd like to hear a more objective version of this story.

One might ask why these "reporters" do not have a valid press card already?

They've always been allowed into the parliament buildings, which are owned by the citizens, not by the NDP.

Suddenly, Notley wants to silence them and calls security thugs to kick them out.

I think you need to read the article and watch the video again. And this time, pay closer attention and you'll see the very questions you have asked answered.

[Urbane]

The CBC is covering this story and covering it fairly. Here's an excerpt:

MacEwan University journalism professor Brian Gorman said he isn't a fan of The Rebel, but agrees that governments shouldn't decide who gets to cover them.

"It's a really dangerous precedent and makes me very, very nervous," he said. "I really hope that they reconsider.

"I'd love to know what the thinking was. I mean, why they thought this was a good idea. That just baffles me."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... -1.3450577

[SmokeOnTheWater]

Although I have an extremely low opinion of Ezra, that does not mean that his organization should be excluded.

It is a sad commentary, however, that such a truth twisting provocateur is so popular.

Better to have him out in the open, and understand the sad reality of his attraction than to try to suppress him. "Know thine enemy" and all that. Then be proactive, and try to bring the folks that follow such a crass exploiter around to a more reasonable position.

I may not consider Ezra to be a journalist, but that is not my call, and it is a arrogant of the NDP to try to make that call.

Agree. Even The National Enquirer has a place in this world.

[maple leaf]

I wonder how it works in other provinces ,are people like AlexTsakumis ,Bob Mackin, or Norm Farrell able to access the same as Baldry,Smyth, and Palmer.Were do they draw the line of who is included and who is not.But looks like Notley has started a review of the whole deal.

By Ezera's own admission ,he is not a journalist.

Snip

According to The Rebel, Nicholas was removed from a Calgary lockup for the royalty review. Lockups allow media access to embargoed documents and unattributed technical briefings from government experts.
snip
"The government's position is that if you have testified under oath that you are not a journalist, then we don't consider you a journalist," she said.

Snip
Alberta's NDP premier has asked a former journalist to review her government's media policies following public outcry over a ban of correspondents from The Rebel, a website owned and run by former Sun News commentator Ezra Levant.
Snip
"Our client's position remains that your client and those who identify as being connected to your client are not journalists and are not entitled to access media lockups or other such events," the department wrote.

snip
Premier Rachel Notley confirmed Tuesday that the review would be undertaken by Heather Boyd, the former Western Canada bureau chief for The Canadian Press.
snip
Boyd will take three weeks to examine "how this is dealt with in other jurisdictions, consult with the press gallery, to look at how we deal with new media participants and then we'll move forward with that on the base of those recommendations," Motley said.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... -1.3450577

[fluffy]

For me it's about what motivates people, not what they claim when the camera is pointed at them. Rebel staffers and their ilk have no interest in journalistic integrity, they want to stir the pot and that's all. "Objectivity" is a foreign concept to them, they start from the position of "NDP bad" and go from there. Their bias is pervasive and toxic, and governs everything they do.

[Urbane]

By Ezera's own admission ,he is not a journalist.

He said that he wasn't a reporter but as we know all journalists aren't reporters. Can you show me where he said that he wasn't a journalist? Perhaps he did and I missed it.

[logicalview]

Rebel staffers and their ilk have no interest in journalistic integrity, they want to stir the pot and that's all. "Objectivity" is a foreign concept to them, they start from the position of "NDP bad" and go from there. Their bias is pervasive and toxic, and governs everything they do.

And for years we saw leftist organizations and their ilk with no interest in journalistic integrity, just wanting to stir the pot and invent complete bogus lies about the Conservatives. "Objectivity" was a foreign concept to them, just as we see certain idiot leftist bloggers and websites in BC who have zero objectivity as they are bought and paid for NDP propaganda organs. They start from a position of Conservatives "bad" (or BC Liberals) and go from there. Their bias is pervasive and toxic, and governs everything they do.

And saying all of that....

I can't recall one case where the Conservatives or any party in power that is hated by idiot leftists everywhere ever stooped to the level of stupidity that the NDP is perpetrating right now in Alberta. Worse yet, they are so dense that they don't even see that they are playing right into Ezra's hands. The entire Rebel staff must be high-fiving right now that the NDP could possibly be this stupid. They are blatantly breaching the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens by denying them access to government buildings, and worse yet, this breach is being committed by some of the worst sanctimonious jerks in Canada when it comes to whining, crying and screaming about people's rights and freedoms. There really are no bigger hypocrites in Canada right now than the Alberta NDP. Just brutal. Like amazingly so.