I was banned from covering a press conference by the Liberal Press Office. I was told that I was not an accredited journalist. I called the Press Gallery and they said that they don't have jurisdiction over events like this. So I went to the press gallery and they told me that I wasn't allowed to cover the press conference because I'm not a journalist.
00:00:00.000One of the institutions that is most under stress right now is a free, independent, free thinking, independent, rigorous, robust, respected media.
00:00:15.000I was banned from covering the press conference. True North, despite RSVPing and despite having no indication from the liberal press office that there was a problem, I was not allowed to enter.
00:00:25.720If a democracy is to function, you need to have an educated populace and you need to have an informed populace.
00:00:33.720What's the definition of journalists that you're working off of?
00:00:36.720I mean, there's not a dictionary definition that we follow, obviously, but there are different organizations that accredit journalists, as you know, Press Gallery, Queen's Park Press Gallery, etc.
00:00:45.720And I contacted the Press Gallery and they said they don't claim any jurisdiction for events.
00:00:48.720We don't, no, but we rely on their definition for, there are all kinds of people who come and say that they're journalists for events,
00:00:54.720but we obviously reserve the space and the access for journalists.
00:00:59.720And you know who I am, though. We've talked, I've interviewed the leader before.