Juno News - Press freedom needs to begin at home

00:00:00.000 the second global conference for media freedom just wrapped up the conference was virtual this

00:00:10.320 year featuring representatives from a number of non-profit organizations non-government

00:00:15.240 organizations and yes some governments talking about media freedom around the world the conference

00:00:20.920 co-hosted by the Canadian government however didn't really look at press freedom in Canada

00:00:27.120 all that much the only head of government to speak the top ranking official from any country

00:00:32.100 addressing the conference was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau he spoke about his government's

00:00:36.720 unrelenting commitment to press freedom but it was almost exclusively focused on other places in the

00:00:42.360 world take a look not only is press freedom a cornerstone of democracy it's a fundamental

00:00:48.420 building block of strong healthy societies when journalists can do their jobs when citizens can

00:00:55.320 get good reliable information everyone does better now that's how things should be but as

00:01:03.900 you all know all too often that's not how things are today we see citizens calling for change from

00:01:12.360 Hong Kong to Belarus only to have the authorities attack the freedom of the press we see journalists

00:01:19.800 casting light on human rights abuses and on this pandemic people like Cho-Soo-Hu Wa-Lo and Maria Ressa only to

00:01:29.700 face repression and violence it is never acceptable for a journalist to be attacked for doing their job it

00:01:38.280 is never acceptable for a reporter to be put in jail for interviewing a peaceful protester and it is never

00:01:45.600 acceptable for anyone anywhere to have the freedom of expression denied a crackdown on the media puts

00:01:53.640 democracy in danger it puts lives in danger so what do we see it happening we can't turn away we can't wait

00:02:02.400 for someone else to act after all a free independent press doesn't happen by itself it happens because as

00:02:11.460 citizens we know it is vital to our shared future and so we accept nothing less Canada will always defend

00:02:23.640 freedom of the press as we will defend the freedom of expression now I agree with him when he says when

00:02:28.620 journalists can do their jobs everyone does better unfortunately it hasn't really been that easy for a

00:02:35.280 journalist to do their job in Justin Trudeau's government remember that the Trudeau government

00:02:40.320 has actually banned me and other journalists from covering government events like the leaders debates

00:02:46.400 commission you have Ezra Levant from our friends over at the rebel who is still facing investigation by

00:02:52.380 election bureaucrats for writing a book about Justin Trudeau during an election we had of course Justin Trudeau

00:02:59.460 banning me from covering the liberal campaign and at one point I was pulled over detained at roadside by

00:03:05.020 police while I was trying to go to Justin Trudeau's next campaign stop now the challenges that I face are of

00:03:11.400 course different than what journalists in other parts of the world like Hong Kong or Belarus or even parts of Africa face but

00:03:19.200 they are still falling under that same banner as infringement of press freedom now

00:03:25.380 the Canada and UK governments had actually awarded the Belarusian Association of

00:03:30.600 journalists an award to deal with to recognize the tremendous bravery and courage that Belarusian

00:03:37.260 journalists have shown trying to cover things that are going on in an undemocratic country and the

00:03:42.900 gentleman who accepted the award speaking through a translator had actually given this as an example of

00:03:48.240 how Belarusian journalists have their rights taken away the authorities did not miss any chance to block news

00:03:54.360 websites either since August 9 many of the internet news sites have become inaccessible from Belarus the

00:04:01.240 country's most popular portal tut.by has just been deprived of its media status thus its reporters have lost

00:04:09.240 rights as journalists by government redefining what a journalist is by saying you're no longer media

00:04:15.960 well that's precisely what's happening here yeah the government stands up in Canada and says it supports press

00:04:20.760 freedom but it doesn't actually have a free and open description and definition of what press means of what

00:04:28.340 journalism means and that's a question that Justin Trudeau has never really had to answer for it's not one I've heard any

00:04:34.340 mainstream media reporters actually ask him now when we learned what Belarusian journalists face Francois-Philippe

00:04:41.120 Champagne the foreign affairs minister in Canada called it shocking even though that sort of conduct when it comes to

00:04:47.760 denying accreditation happens inside Canada so what's the point of this conference Cabo Morwang Botswana's

00:04:55.200 minister of presidential affairs Botswana being the other co-host of this conference spoke at the event

00:05:01.680 as well and he had said that it's not about infringing on other nations sovereignty or telling them how to run

00:05:08.000 their affairs distinguished delegates this coalition and this conference in particular should not be

00:05:16.400 misconstrued as an attempt to dictate to sovereign states how they should run their countries or administer

00:05:25.280 their laws I believe that I speak for all participating nations and delegates when I say we respect the

00:05:33.760 sovereignty of all nations of the world nevertheless we understand this coalition to be an attempt to

00:05:42.720 raise global awareness about the benefits that can be born from media freedom yes what the minister said

00:05:49.680 is that this isn't about imposing some sort of western standard of press freedom but rather showcasing

00:05:55.200 it and encouraging it and fostering a dialogue that talks about why press freedom is a good thing

00:06:00.480 that governments and states around the world should embrace now I do appreciate his respect

00:06:05.200 for sovereignty and that's something we don't hear a lot of in international relations these days

00:06:09.920 but it also asks the question of if it's not to talk about why other countries should be doing this

00:06:15.200 what's the point of it what's the point of having these discussions if the only countries that are

00:06:19.600 coming to the table already have this commitment to media freedom my response to that would be that it's

00:06:25.200 all the more reason that countries that are talking about these issues need to model the behavior

00:06:30.160 they want to see in the world and that means for Canada press freedom should begin at home sure we

00:06:35.760 can all agree that things need to be better in Hong Kong and Russia in Belarus in Brazil and other

00:06:41.600 parts of the world but when you aren't prepared to do the introspection to talk about your own

00:06:46.160 country's track record on press freedom you really aren't standing up for press freedom and that was

00:06:51.360 a theme at last year's global conference for media freedom and it doesn't really seem like much has

00:06:56.240 changed this year from the global conference for media freedom i'm andrew lutton now i know i didn't

00:07:01.600 need to fly anywhere to cover this conference but still true north is standing up for media freedom

00:07:06.880 and covering these issues covering the free speech battles in a way the mainstream media is not if you

00:07:12.480 can chip in a few dollars to support our efforts it would be very much appreciated head on over to tnc.news

00:07:18.880 slash donate

00:07:28.240 you

Juno News - November 17, 2020

Press freedom needs to begin at home

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