00:06:47.780And one of the big things that we see in this, and I mentioned our little mini solidarity that we saw at the Global Conference for Media Freedom a couple of years ago.
00:06:56.400But, you know, that event was very interesting because you were there as well for a part of it.
00:07:03.080Maybe 20 kilometers away from that conference, Tommy Robinson was appearing in court at the Old Bailey.
00:07:09.600And I can't remember which appearance it was at that point.
00:07:12.020But I believe it was a decision about whether he was going to jail or a decision about whether he was at risk of going to jail, whatever it was at the day.
00:07:20.100And I recall talking to one of the journalism advocates at this group.
00:07:25.120I think she was with Reporters Without Borders.
00:07:27.720And, you know, she said, oh, yes, press freedom.
00:07:35.060And they had the same approach to Julian Assange.
00:07:38.180And look, I'm all for debating the tactics, the ethics, the merits of a Tommy Robinson, a David Menzies, a you, a me, a Julian Assange, a Rosie Barton, a David Carr.
00:07:49.720Let's debate and let's challenge and let's criticize and be skeptical.
00:07:53.980But where you draw that line on what a journalist is, is crucially important.
00:07:59.180Because the government's trying to make it where audiences aren't the ones that make that determination, where police do.
00:08:05.180And I want to just play a clip, if I may, Ezra, here.
00:08:07.840Because the Global Conference for Media Freedom ended up becoming a big dud.
00:08:11.900Like, Chrystia Freeland and Jeremy Hunt in the UK had such big hopes.
00:08:14.720And then the next year it ended up being like this virtual conference that Botswana was hosting.
00:08:21.040But I asked at that next one, Francois-Philippe Champagne, who was the Canadian delegate, what a journalist is and if it's government, what definition government uses.
00:08:36.100I don't think it is for any government to define who is a journalist, actually.
00:08:40.580I would leave it to journalists to define that themselves.
00:08:43.440I think our role is to make sure that, as we said today, we have seen a number, there's a number of trends against media freedom around the world.
00:08:53.300We heard from our colleagues in Belarus today who have been harassed, who have been facing violence, and have been seeing more and more restrictions on media freedom.
00:09:03.480One other aspect which is of concern to me, and I mentioned that before, it's the kind of emerging technologies which are spreading misinformation and disinformation.
00:09:14.820So I would think that we need more than ever journalists around the world to speak up, to stand up, and to report information accurately so that citizens around the world can be properly informed.
00:09:28.260And that's the bedrock of our democracy.
00:09:38.980Let's talk about journalists in Belarus.
00:09:40.440I say, let's talk about journalists in Richmond Hill.
00:09:43.680So right there, you have Minister Champagne saying, no, no, no, it's not government that decides, but his government is the one that has effectively a podcast registry, that has state-subsidized media,
00:09:55.880a government that has all of these designations of qualified Canadian journalism organizations where they decide you can be a journalist and you can't be.
00:10:03.560And now you look at the liberal response to what happened to David, and it's all, well, he's not a real journalist, as though that excuses the conduct, first and foremost.
00:10:13.940Well, that's why I want to get this in the court.
00:10:16.140I mean, I spoke to a very senior lawyer this morning, a very senior criminal lawyer, famous name, and he said that, he watched the tape very carefully.
00:10:26.480He said, absolutely, they violated his rights.
00:10:32.400So all these know-nothings at the CBC and elsewhere poo-pooing what happened to David, I know a court will find it differently.
00:10:41.080And by the way, you've got to keep hope alive because we have had victories in the courts, which tells me there are still some people in Canada who believe in freedom for reporters.
00:10:50.520By the way, you didn't include in your list of censorship there that the CRTC is now requiring news companies like yours and mine to come up with codes of conduct that the government will approve or not.
00:11:04.240Could you imagine the chutzpah in this?
00:11:06.520The government will hold journalists to account rather than journalists being allowed to hold the government to account.
00:11:11.280I saw a CBC panel yesterday that said that David Menzies was harassing Chrystia Freeland by asking her questions by virtue of him being male.
00:11:21.440And there was a gender aspect, and so the arrest may have been reasonable because he was a man and she was a woman.
00:11:27.980That's the new ideological woke thinking at the CBC.
00:11:32.940They would never say that, by the way, if the woman in question were Danielle Smith or another conservative like that.
00:11:40.060But, Andrew, it falls to people like you and us and David Menzies to keep real journalism alive, that doesn't make excuses and say, oh, that's harassing, and doesn't excuse police brutality.
00:11:54.200Because the regime media, the media party, they no longer believe in speaking truth to power.
00:12:01.280They no longer believe in scrumming powerful people if it's people on the left who are being scrummed.
00:12:07.820So I'm looking forward to going to court, and as soon as our lawsuit is finalized, we'll publish it, and I'm happy to share it with you and happy to talk to you about it or invite our lawyer, Sarah Miller, to go on your show to answer technical questions.
00:12:20.140It's an expensive thing to sue because we get no government money.