Controlling the Press is Necessary for an Autocracy - Canada is Racing in that Direction

Trudeau's briefings highlight a problem

with journalism in Canada

Candice Malcolm
Toronto SUN Opinion Columnists

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a news conference at Rideau Cottage, as efforts continue to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada April 24, 2020. Blair Gable / REUTERS

The media landscape in Canada is rapidly changing. Canadians are increasingly consuming the news online and through their smartphones. They’re watching more videos and finding news stories through social media apps like Facebook and YouTube.

Many traditional media outlets are struggling to adapt to the new landscape of digital news delivered through social media. The only saving grace is that the Trudeau government is tilting the playing field in their favour.

Trudeau has announced more funding to state broadcaster the CBC, a bailout to the establishment newspaper chains, and perhaps most disturbingly, a government-commissioned panel recommending jaw-dropping crackdowns on press freedom.

This includes the creation of a government registry for media outlets, heavy-handed new regulations governing content providers, codes of conduct, new taxes and fees, and a licensing requirement for media outlets.

Even while the world is preoccupied with the coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdowns, the Trudeau government still manages to manipulate media coverage.

Take the PM’s daily news conferences as an example.

These press sessions give the aura of responsible, accountable government. Trudeau typically delivers a 15 minute speech with information for Canadians, followed by 15 to 20 minutes of questions from the press.

A closer look, however, shows that these news conferences are nothing but kabuki theatre.

True North, the think tank and online media organization I run, looked at the questions being asked of Trudeau and found that the CBC dominated these press conferences, being allowed to ask twice as many questions as any other outlet.

CBC journalists were granted 21% of the questions asked between March 13 and April 30. Meanwhile, independent online outlets like True North, Rebel News and Blacklock’s Reporter were blocked from asking a single question.

In a similar study, Blacklock’s found that of the 708 questions put to the Prime Minister, CBC asked 167 of them. CTV asked 90 questions, Global News asked 75, the Toronto Star asked 29, the National Post had 14 and the Sun papers only got 4 questions.

The Post and the Sun chain are centre-right papers. All the national TV networks and the Star are either left-wing or far-left. The independent outlets named above are right-wing or far-right. With no parliament and almost no opportunity to ask difficult questions, Trudeau gets a free ride from criticism. But this is not how democracy works. 

These press conferences are organized by the non-partisan Privy Council Office, so any news outlet can dial into the calls and attempt to ask a question. The individual questions, however, are controlled by partisan political aides.

These Liberal staffers apparently chose to call on friendly reporters from left-leaning news outlets — those owned by the government, heavily regulated by the government or bailed out by the government.

Independent outlets are shut out.

That’s why Rebel News filed a federal lawsuit against the Prime Minister’s Office for not allowing its journalists to ask questions.

To add insult to injury, these daily press conferences are being billed as an alternative to Parliament and in lieu of Question Period.

When Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer proposed returning to Parliament last month to hold the Trudeau government to account during this pandemic, his proposal was rejected by Liberal, NDP and Bloc MPs, and many journalists condemned him for even suggesting that MPs get back to work.

“Questions are necessary. Question Period is not,” wrote Toronto Star columnist Susan Delacourt. Another Star columnist and CBC political commentator, Chantal Hebert, argued that a return to Parliament wasn’t necessary right now because “there is precious little appetite among the public for anything that smacks of partisan politics.”

In an open letter to Canadians published in the Sun papers, Scheer quoted former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker in saying, “Parliament is more than procedure — it is the custodian of the nation’s freedom.”

Trudeau gets away with these assaults on parliamentary tradition and press freedom because there is a long line-up of loyal journalists willing to defend his every action — no matter how regressive or thuggish. The fact that many of these journalists are on the government payroll is a serious threat to our nation’s freedom.

Philippines' Largest TV Network Shutters After Government Order

What happens when you don't have the sophistication of Justin Trudeau to bribe the networks into not printing anything negative about you.

By Sommer Brokaw

Supporters of ABS-CBN held a demonstration calling for government to uphold press freedom,

outside the House of Representatives in Quezon City, east of Manila, Philippines in March. Despite

the protest, the network shutdown Tuesday because of a government order to cease operations.

File Photo by Rolex Dela Pena/EPA-EFE

(UPI) -- The Philippines' largest television network, ABS-CBN, shut down Tuesday after its license expired under government order.

The network, which employed about 11,000 people, signed off after broadcasting its evening news.

The National Telecommunications Commission ordered it earlier in the day to cease TV and radio broadcasts since its 25-year franchise license expired Monday, a statement posted on Twitter shows.

"This is in compliance with the cease and desist order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission today that prohibits ABS-CBN from continuing its broadcast operations effective immediately," a company statement said.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and his allies previously accused the network of airing his opponents' advertisements during the 2016 election campaign, but not his.

Network President Carlo Katigbak apologized to Duterte during congressional hearings on the franchise's renewal in February and clarified operations regarding how it aired advertisements.

Duterte has also been upset by critical news coverage of his bloody war against drugs.

Lawmakers had a resolution to allow the network to continue operation as its renewal was pending. But on Sunday, which marked World Press Freedom Day, Philippines Solicitor General Jose Calida threatened to charge the NTC with corruption if it granted a temporary permit.

Calida also filed a petition in February with the Supreme Court seeking to revoke the ABS-CBN franchise.

Network supporters had protested back in March outside the House of Representatives in Quezon City. Critics added that the network was singled out because of Duterte's disdain for it.

"It sends a clear message: What Duterte wants, Duterte gets," the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said in a statement. "And it is clear, with the brazen move to shut down ABS-CBN, that he intends to silence critical media and intimidate everyone else into submission."

The Philippines has been considered one of the world's most dangerous countries to be a journalist and this year fell down two spots on the World Press Freedom Index to 136th place.

"The order threatens press freedom at a time when the public needs an unfettered press the most," the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines added in a statement. "As the Philippines reels from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, ABS-CBN's critical eye is needed now more than ever to help inform the public."

A free press is the only thing that stands between a healthy democracy and autocracy. Some countries simply murder journalists who reveal state corruption, while others just disappear, and still others are bought and paid for. When the press stops criticizing the government, democracy is in its death throes.