00:00:00.000welcome to the fighter i'm your host chris sims and boy do we have a great interview for you
00:00:10.960you might remember that the federal government is now paying journalists in mainstream media
00:00:19.560yeah we're not even talking about the cbc no let's leave the state broadcaster at the sidelines just
00:00:25.900for a few minutes, okay? No, a huge chunk of the mainstream media in Canada is now reliant upon
00:00:35.100government funding. Folks, this is a direct and obvious conflict of interest because
00:00:42.160journalists are supposed to, through journalism, hold the powerful to account. And in particular,
00:00:49.880it's supposed to be a calling to hold powerful governments to account and uh you can't do that
00:00:58.120if you're counting on that powerful government for your paycheck is a direct and obvious conflict of
00:01:04.900interest but wait there's more it's not just the funding now we're dealing with things like
00:01:10.260the government choosing who is and is not an approved journalist just the very idea of a
00:01:18.060government-approved journalist should send shivers down your spine because a free press
00:01:24.360is essential to a democracy. We need a free press as taxpayers, because we're at the Taxpayers
00:01:31.800Federation. We need a free press in order to hold the government to account. And you can't do that
00:01:39.640if that press is polluted with government money. They're counting on the government for money,
00:01:46.960and now government is deciding who is and is not a journalist. Now we've got groups who are
00:01:53.600deciding who can ask a politician a question or not, even via email, okay? We're getting to a
00:02:02.240critical stage right now when it comes to free expression, a free press, and censorship in
00:02:08.180Canada. In fact, this is so important that our sisters or cousins, whatever you want to call
00:02:15.400them, the folks over at Rebel News. You've probably seen Sheila Gunn-Reed. She is the lead
00:02:21.180editor of Rebel News. I've known her for many years. She also is actually the president of the
00:02:28.360Independent Press Gallery. Why is this important? Because Sheila Gunn-Reed got on a plane and flew
00:02:37.720to ottawa and was at the committee right in the lion's den on parliament hill speaking up for a
00:02:46.600free press let's listen this is not a free press according to reporters without borders canada has
00:02:54.760fallen from eighth place in 2015 to 21st in 2025. independent journalists are not asking for special
00:03:02.760treatment we're asking for equal treatment end discrimination in media access ensure no journalist
00:03:10.360is blocked from public institutions by their competitors and stop using public policy to
00:03:15.880interfere with how independent media reach their audience a free press is not funded filtered and
00:03:23.080approved by the government it is free to challenge it and right now that freedom is under pressure
00:03:29.720and it's time to restore it. Wow. Okay, that was just a little taste of what Sheila said to the
00:03:36.120committee. And it's so important. And I really got to get this across. This should be nonpartisan.
00:03:42.080In fact, this shouldn't even be ideological. If you vote left or right, you should want to have
00:03:48.320a free press in Canada. Because imagine if the other guy were in, say somebody who was, you know,
00:03:54.740right-wing and conservative were in. Wouldn't you want your journalists who were speaking for you
00:03:59.900and asking those hard W5 questions, wouldn't you want them to be independent from the government?
00:04:06.840You better believe you would. This is why a free press is so important. So how did she wind up
00:04:13.240going there? What kind of stuff was she saying? Why is a free press under attack in Canada and
00:04:18.960how do we fix it? Let's find out. Joining me now is my good friend, the editor over at Rebel News
00:04:26.600and also the president of the Independent Press Gallery. Yes, we have one of those in Canada.
00:04:33.460Sheila Gunn-Reed. You are fresh off of the plane coming back from Mordor, also known as Ottawa.
00:04:40.000I got to give it to you. You really put the boots to them. I've watched your opening statement
00:04:45.760about five times over. Thank you for speaking up for average, everyday, hardworking Canadians
00:04:52.460who watch independent media and who want a level playing field. So first, just set the stage for
00:04:58.900me. So what were you doing in Ottawa? Like, how did you get into the building? Like, what was it
00:05:04.100like being at committee? You know, it's weird. I never thought that I would ever be working in
00:05:11.300and around Parliament Hill. And there's a reason for that. A cabal of our competitors known as
00:05:15.240the Parliamentary Press Gallery, get together and have these little witch trials for independent
00:05:20.040journalists if we apply to join. And they purposefully exclude us, which seems bizarre
00:05:26.500that your taxpayer-funded competitors can get together and then vote to ensure that you do not
00:05:33.140have access to the same politicians that they do. But that's what happens here. And they control
00:05:38.380access to Parliament Hill. But I was invited by the Conservatives on the Heritage Committee
00:05:44.000to serve as, I think, a counterbalance to the bailout media in this country.
00:05:51.660And so during my committee appearance, I think there's four or five other journalists that were sitting there
00:05:57.400and every single one of them was asking for more government money.
00:06:00.940And I thought, you know what, Sheila, now's your chance to leave it all on the dance floor.
00:06:05.700You're going to have to defend the rights of independent journalists and really what we want as independent journalists.
00:06:12.840and as the president of the Independent Press Gallery, I try to speak for all of us in that
00:06:19.280we don't want the money and we just want to be left alone. Just leave us alone to do our jobs
00:06:25.660and hold the politicians to account on the normal people. So on behalf of the normal people. So
00:06:30.580that's how I ended up at committee. I was invited by the conservatives. I didn't really tell anybody
00:06:35.480what I was doing. I was worried that there would be a left-wing loony outcry once the news broke
00:06:43.400that I was testifying. So I sort of kept it to myself. You know, a couple of people knew, you
00:06:48.760knew, trusted people in my circle knew, but I was worried that the party might get wobbly, decide I
00:06:56.440would be too much of a headache. And so I didn't tell anybody that I was going to be there until
00:07:01.320I was there and it was basically all over but the crying. Yeah you went in there on like stealth
00:07:07.740mode. All right I gotta point out obviously this is Juno and you're with Rebel. I love this so much
00:07:14.280it's like a Marvel DC crossover happening right now in the comic book and you were truly a hero
00:07:20.640for independent journalists. Thank you so much for speaking up for them. Break it down for us. Now
00:07:26.540you gave your entire spiel, but talk me through some of the actual issues that you were trying
00:07:33.600to address here. Let's start with the funding. A lot of people still may not realize that it's
00:07:39.980not just the state broadcaster. It's not just the CBC. The big majority of the mainstream media
00:07:46.880is on government dole now. They're funded by the government. As a longtime member of the
00:07:53.580Parliamentary Press Gallery formally, I can't believe this. I still can't believe that huge
00:07:58.920chunks of the mainstream media are on government payroll now. So why are you fighting government
00:08:04.880funding of the media? Well, as I said in my opening statement, government funding of the media,
00:08:09.800whether it's real or perceived, is political contamination in journalism. And to be clear,
00:08:18.180and this is not my testimony, this is testimony from the Canadian Media Guild that was also
00:08:23.340actually there. In excess of 90% of journalists in this country are on some sort of government
00:08:31.240assistance. And I'll say 90. And, you know, that is either the $30,000 per person in the majority
00:08:44.560of the newsrooms across this country. But also there's this little thing called the QCJO that
00:08:50.200allows the newsrooms to be able to claim the salaries of up to, I think it's about $12,000
00:08:57.460or $13,000 per employee as a tax write-off. And the QCJO is the government stamp of approval.
00:09:05.480It's the Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization. And it's basically the government
00:09:12.720giving you a license to commit journalism, which I explicitly reject, and then giving you all these
00:09:20.820freebies on the other side. And what it does is it fosters an environment of journalists who,
00:09:27.840whether it's intentional or otherwise, just will not, as aggressively as they should,
00:09:34.980hold the government to account. Because how can you, if you rely on the government for your
00:09:41.620existence and your employment. You won't bite the hand that feeds you. You just won't. That's just
00:09:47.760human nature. Folks, this really needs to be hammered home because this isn't just a problem
00:09:53.620for journalists, okay? This is a problem for you. This is a problem for all the viewers and all the
00:09:59.360listeners and all your kids and grandkids, okay? Because journalists are supposed to speak truth
00:10:06.000to power. Journalists are supposed to hold the powerful government to account. This has always
00:10:13.780been the mantra of good journalists. Okay. It doesn't matter what kind of journalism school
00:10:18.060you went to. You ask the hard W5 questions, who, what, where, when, why. Okay. You hold government
00:10:24.580to account. You go through public documents. You hold them to account on spending and all their
00:10:29.460behavior. If you are now counting on that same government for your paycheck, it's not going to
00:10:38.300happen. Okay. That is a direct and obvious conflict of interest and why I was so glad, Sheila, to see
00:10:45.660you at that committee and just slinging some arrows. How did it feel? I got to ask you because
00:10:51.820a lot of people don't realize you're sitting in this big room. There's this like kind of four
00:10:55.860tables all mixed together into like of a big square. You're looking at a chairperson and
00:11:00.720there's like MPs from different parties, like kind of like looming in on you on either side, right?
00:11:06.200Yeah. I mean, I suppose it can feel intimidating. I think normal people, sorry, honey, but
00:11:14.120normal people would probably find it intimidating. Not that I'm calling you abnormal or anything,
00:11:18.660but what do you feel like? Again, I think it can feel intimidating to some people. I wasn't
00:11:25.060intimidated because I'm there, you know, and I wasn't even really there on behalf of myself.
00:11:31.900And I'm, you know, you're sitting beside five people who are asking hat in hand for more money.
00:11:38.700And you sort of feel crazy. It feels ridiculous. But, you know, I'm not scared of politicians. In0.96
00:11:46.800fact, I know they're scared of me, especially liberal politicians, which is why they won't
00:11:51.100led us into their events, which is why they don't accredit us. They are frightened of me. And I kept
00:11:55.700that in my head. And I'm also there speaking on behalf of the 50 some odd members of the
00:12:00.900independent press gallery who are also unfairly treated, who will also never have a chance to
00:12:06.240speak truth to power because the echelons of power keep them at bay. And I'm also cognizant
00:12:13.800that I am there on behalf of the millions of Canadians who choose to consume independent
00:12:22.160journalism because that's journalism that they feel that they can trust. And so, you know,
00:12:28.940when you're in that room, sure, it's just little old me and a bunch of other people. And these
00:12:32.680people apparently are powerful people. But, you know, you feel the support of everybody behind
00:12:37.700And you also feel the importance that you're probably only going to get one shot at this, especially now that the Liberals have secured that majority one way or another.
00:12:50.040And so the Conservatives are really going to lose the power that they have at these committees.
00:12:54.180And so you won't see as many oppositional witnesses to government policy at any of the committees.
00:13:02.660So I thought, you know what? Things are changing fast.
00:13:04.840and uh this is my one shot so I took it to keep with the comic book reference to quote Rorschach
00:13:13.100uh I'm not in here with you you're in here with me exactly and that's exactly what it looks like
00:13:20.020good for you um I wanted to get into so there's the funding part but there's also the access part
00:13:26.180and you keyed in on that and for people who you know didn't know or don't realize it
00:13:33.560On Parliament Hill, okay, those buildings where you see them coming out of question period and
00:13:38.940they've got like kind of the sandstone pillars behind them, limestone rather pillars behind them,
00:13:43.420and they're talking to journalists. All of those journalists, in order to be standing there,
00:13:48.960camera over the shoulder, microphone in hand, are either permanent or been given a temporary pass
00:13:54.700to be members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. Full disclosure, I was a full-time member for
00:14:00.860years and years and years okay i know the rooms i know the players all that stuff
00:14:05.420basically what it is is it's a club that then controls access for journalists to the hill
00:14:13.120okay that means that they get to pick and choose which journalists go into those buildings cover
00:14:21.760the caucus meetings when they come out of them cover question period cover committee
00:14:25.880When you can actually go in there. What's that? End press conference. Perfect example. So describe to me why the Parliamentary Press Gallery has an inordinate amount of power, especially now, and what they're doing with largely independent journalism.
00:14:43.100Sure. So the parliamentary press gallery, but this is not specific to them. This is press galleries all across the country, including Alberta.
00:14:55.160But Alberta has one unique way that even if this cabal of your competitors, as I like to call them, vote or just not even hold a vote, just see your application to join and then just say, gross, they don't take government money and throw it in the garbage.
00:15:13.100In Alberta, we can be accredited through the Speaker's Office because the Speaker controls the building.
00:15:19.960But the Parliamentary Press Gallery is, as I said, this taxpayer-funded, and they actually have taxpayer resources.
00:15:27.840So not only are the journalists taxpayer-funded through their respective news agencies, but the Parliamentary Press Gallery does have some taxpayer-funded and taxpayer-supported resources.
00:15:42.580They are, as they say, self-governing. So they can choose who gets to come on the Hill and who gets to have access. And it is a rarity if an independent journalist is allowed to join their exclusive little club, which is why when you are seeing independent journalists like Rebel News' Alexa Lavoie work, she's usually doing walk and talks, as they call them, on the street with politicians.
00:16:09.720she has to catch them because we can't get onto the hill to ask those questions at press conferences.
00:16:17.480We are, of course, allowed to attend conservative press conferences off the hill, but you'll never
00:16:23.160see our questions on the official CPAC feed or Parle View feed. You just won't because we're not
00:16:29.640there. And this has become particularly relevant. For example, Alexa Lavoie,
00:16:37.640two weeks ago, she interviewed the presumed next leader of the Quebec government, the leader of the
00:16:47.080PQ. That interview was being conducted at the legislature. Her interview was delayed for an hour
00:16:56.360because the legislature press gallery there would not allow her there. Even though she was invited
00:17:01.320by the leader of the pq um it was a lot of pushing back and the the pq sort of stepped in and flexed
00:17:10.440their muscles and said excuse me no she's with us but that is that's just some of the um you know
00:17:17.880the this cloistered activity that happens with the journalists there so they they get together
00:17:24.600to purposefully push you out from being able to do journalism on the Hill.
00:17:31.420So what Alexa was doing there, just to be clear,0.97
00:17:33.520that was at the National Assembly in Quebec City?
00:17:38.020The press gallery there also controls access.
00:17:41.760And as I said, this is everywhere across the country.
00:17:44.860In Alberta, they also held a witch trial for me.
00:17:48.280And Kian Bexte at the time, we applied to join the press gallery.1.00
00:17:53.600they had a witch trial in absentia, which I mean, the ladies in Salem at least got to turn up to
00:17:59.120their own witch trial, told us that we weren't going to be allowed to join. And the speaker1.00
00:18:04.240stepped in and said, well, that's fine. We'll accredit them that way because the Alberta
00:18:08.080government does have a strong commitment to engaging with journalists all across the political
00:18:12.320spectrum as they try to be the government for all Albertans and just not the ones that voted for
00:18:17.600them. Folks, again, this is so important, okay? If you are worried about censorship, if you don't
00:18:25.580want your guns confiscated that you legally purchased as a licensed law-abiding firearms
00:18:30.300owner, if you don't want carbon taxes on absolutely everything you eat and use just for the sin of
00:18:36.320existing, if you don't want your great-great-great-grandchildren paying Prime Minister
00:18:40.900Justin Trudeau's interest charges later in life, like all of these things really matter. I'll give
00:18:47.080you a really recent example that just blew up while you were sitting there at the Heritage
00:18:51.800Committee saying that independent journalists need access. So the last show I just did for Juno
00:18:58.080involved speaking with Conservative leader Pierre Polyev. I asked him with the same tee-up I've
00:19:05.080mentioned for the last, you know, year since Prime Minister Mark Carney was elected and started
00:19:09.820doing terrible things at the budget. Basically, it went like this. Why is he running up such a
00:19:15.000massive deficit. Why is Prime Minister Mark Carney planning on borrowing more money than
00:19:20.780former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was borrowing? Remember when Chrystia Freeland wouldn't go past
00:19:25.620the $60 billion guardrail? And I said, I said, who knew that the guy with the PhD in economics
00:19:32.340was going to be worse with money than the drama teacher? Yep. And Pierre Polyev was absolutely
00:19:38.100correct when he said, yeah, who knew? It takes a strange or bad form of education to run up a
00:19:46.040massive deficit, to allow for inflation to run rampant through your country and put a carbon
00:19:51.660tax on everything. And he stuck to numbers and even talked about gas taxes like he went all the
00:19:56.460way through them. It was a laundry list of numbers. And numbers don't lie. We're in a critical
00:20:02.580situation right now when it comes to the budget the interest charge we pay on our federal debt
00:20:09.200if it were a ministry Sheila would be the third ministry in the list it's more than national
00:20:16.820defense it's more than we send to the provinces for health care like we're at a critical stage
00:20:22.680so he was right frankly what did the mainstream media pick up they got in a twist about Pierre
00:20:30.900poliver you know saying he was badly educated oh didn't you know it's a bad university no it's not
00:20:35.640oh i didn't think so it turned into this high school ridiculous drama instead of why are0.83
00:20:41.680taxpayers getting screwed so much by this government right he didn't pick that up i gotta
00:20:46.500say i know i'm ranting no please back when i was on the hill including with a lot of mainstream
00:20:52.380media outlets they would not have let the government get away with this crazy spending
00:20:57.300for this long. They just wouldn't have. They wouldn't have. And I can't help but think that
00:21:02.300things have changed because they're looking to daddy government to be part of their payroll.
00:21:08.360Absolutely. They're part of the debt problem, aren't they? So I understand why they took it
00:21:12.960personally. But, you know, to Polyev's very true point, there are a ton of overeducated,
00:21:18.220stupid people out there. Absolutely. And just going back to the point about media access and1.00
00:21:24.280not being able to ask those questions i'll give you a really great example of this so there was
00:21:29.400an uh i think it was in early 2025 there was one of the uh ongoing series of announcements on the
00:21:36.680gun grab i'm glad you brought that up and looking to attend were our friends at caliber magazine
00:21:44.920oh yes experts representing stakeholders people who actually know something about
00:21:50.520the models of the firearms are looking too bad. And representing, you know, roughly 2.2, 2.4,
00:21:57.940maybe 2.5 million law-abiding Canadian gun owners. And they were denied access to the Hill
00:22:03.520by the PPG. Even a temporary pass? Yes. Why? You tell me. Okay. It was not like this. Like,
00:22:16.680I know I sound like an old person talking about how kids kids music these days sucks
00:22:21.000but it was not like this like 12 15 years ago like if you made a good argument and you were
00:22:27.600from a reasonable publication meaning like it's actually printed people subscribe to you you're
00:22:32.440just not some person randomly walking in off the street with an iPhone that's not what we're
00:22:36.520talking about here folks yeah we're talking about people with an audience they publish regularly
00:22:40.960okay they're on the internet etc etc etc but like it's caliber magazine correct yes
00:22:46.120so that's very similar so the taxpayers federation we have our own magazine when i call people and
00:22:52.620i'm doing just like really just journalismy things for the articles i'm calling as a journalist as
00:22:58.000part of that magazine because we're into taxes these guys and gals are into guns that's right
00:23:04.620they're into guns they're into firearms right um so to have them denied access even as a temporary
00:23:11.500pass which means you go through all the security like you still have to go through all the security
00:23:16.840checks and stuff again we're at such a critical stage Sheila and it changed so fast so it did
00:23:24.080in 2015 um Rachel Notley was the premier in Alberta there was a press conference joint
00:23:32.260press conference with her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Alberta legislature I had
00:23:37.700worked at the Alberta legislature previously in the course of my job. I'd attended the budget and
00:23:43.620and the speech from the throne. But then I wrote a book that was critical of Rachel Notley.
00:23:50.660And I was headed into the legislature to attend this joint press conference the way I always did,
00:23:56.380you know, said hi to the same old security guards I said hi to. And then all of a sudden,
00:24:01.100a legislature sheriff directed by Rachel Notley's staff said get her out of here and they threw me
00:24:11.060out of the legislature. Now that caused an inquiry into the behavior of the government at the time
00:24:18.660and ultimately the inquiry said it's not the government's job to decide who or who isn't a
00:24:24.740journalist in the province and they handed it off again to the legislature press gallery and as I
00:24:29.300said, there's problems there, but at least it slapped the government's wrist on this. At the
00:24:35.060time, the journalists in the province were divided about 60-40 in favor of, you know,
00:24:46.320allowing me to be able to do my job. I think now it would be divided the other way about 90-10,
00:24:53.580that I should not be allowed to do my job. So even at the time at 60-40, I mean,
00:24:58.500A lot of the journalists in the mainstream media were like, you know, I don't really like her. I don't like what they do, but she's got a right to do it. That has completely inverted and gone the other way. They're basically saying, I don't like her. I don't like her opinions. I don't like the work they do. I don't like how they do it. I don't like that they don't like that I get government money, so she shouldn't be allowed to do her job.
00:25:21.540and really press freedom, any freedom whatsoever should not be contingent on another person's
00:25:27.820feelings about you. Either you have these rights or you don't. And someone's emotions do not factor
00:25:32.500into it at all. That is such a good example. I had a recent one that was around that same time.
00:25:38.920It was around 2015 or so. Maybe it was a bit early around 2013. And I did this a billion times,
00:25:44.320right? So that's on both sides of the fence, so to speak, both as a journalist and producer or
00:25:49.160whatnot. We were going into a conservative event in Ottawa. They were in government. I distinctly
00:25:55.620remember this because I was reporting for Sun News Network and they had some, you know, kid at the
00:26:00.480door, right? This wasn't physically on the Hill. It was some like reception-y thing that we had to
00:26:04.600go in and cover. And I was walking in with, I won't name her, but I always got along really
00:26:09.160great with her, this little teeny tiny reporter for the Hilltimes. Okay. And she was walking right
00:26:14.700next to me and we were chatting like we usually do because we're professional and we're staying
00:26:18.780polite and friendly. And the person at the door tried saying, keep in mind, this is government.
00:26:24.900They're in government. This was not a private party. We're walking in. We were invited. Walking
00:26:29.300in, the guy at the door tried to say, oh, no, just allowing Sun News. We're not allowing the Hill
00:26:34.300Times. We were both accredited members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. We were both like
00:26:39.340longtime established journalists. Nobody was walking in as a Yahoo off the street. And I said,
00:26:44.040uh no if you don't let her in you're not letting me in and now you're gonna have a big issue yeah
00:26:50.440and they thought about it for a second and we both walked through the door and nobody caused
00:26:54.680a disruption and we both committed journalism she won't went and read wrote her thing and i
00:27:00.200went and wrote my thing and our audiences probably appreciated them in their own distinct ways
00:27:05.640that's freedom of the press i wanted to to finish off with this part the this point that you made
00:27:11.480towards the end of your speech. And I encourage everyone, go to Rebel News and watch the whole
00:27:17.120thing. It is outstanding. You did a great job. Thank you. Towards the end of it, you described
00:27:23.040how in a free press, the government doesn't control access, the government doesn't fund the
00:27:29.280media. You said it so much better than I do, though. Can you sum up why we're in this critical
00:27:33.800situation of not having a free press? And please mention the stat on press freedom.
00:27:48.240It really surprised me, actually, to see that amount of dropping in World Press Freedom ranking.
00:27:55.340And then also, what's important, again, I have to stress, if you're watching this because you can't stand the Taxpayers Federation or Juno or Rebel and you're just watching it because you're getting the other side, quote unquote, of the story, hey, good for you.
00:28:08.880It's good. It's good to watch the other side, so to speak. If you're on, you know, the side of
00:28:14.440having smaller government and more freedom and lower taxes and all that jazz, reach out, please
00:28:20.480reach out to your friends and family who probably vote differently than you, okay, who think that
00:28:26.920what the federal government is doing is fine and they may watch the mainstream media only. They
00:28:31.720may not even know about this problem. Please tell them about the situation we're faced with right
00:28:39.100now with having a free press because I'm really worried about the future now because to your
00:28:44.920point Sheila with this new majority government they are now going to be able to take control
00:28:51.400of the committees and they've already indicated they want to go full steam ahead with online
00:28:56.460censorship, also known as the Online Harms Act, I'm worried about the voice of independent media.
00:29:04.620So just if you can sum up where we are when it comes to press freedom in Canada.
00:29:09.100Absolutely. And I want to put this into context by saying this is after $600 million in subsidies
00:29:18.380to the media to save the media from themselves, I guess. But according to Reporters Without
00:29:27.860Borders, and this is after also, do you, I mean, I'm old enough to remember how the media attacked
00:29:34.520Prime Minister Stephen Harper. They said he was unfriendly with the media. Now he did treat some
00:29:39.400of them like the enemies they probably were. That is true. But in 2015, according to Reporters
00:29:47.200Without Borders, Canada was eighth place in international press freedom. In 2025, we are now
00:29:56.04021st. So all these measures that they said they've undertaken to protect the media, to make sure that
00:30:05.640there's a diverse media landscape, it has done nothing but hinder press freedom. And we can draw
00:30:12.160straight line to the um online news act there because thanks to the government's shakedown of
00:30:18.800meta um the government told meta so facebook instagram that if you if a user of these platforms
00:30:28.800shares a link then facebook slash meta has to pay the news outlet that's like asking the paper boy
00:30:36.800to pay you for delivering you the newspaper that's not how it works and so all of a sudden a whole
00:30:42.400bunch of people just stopped getting news online and you know for online and independent outlets
00:30:48.800that was a cheap easy way for us to access our viewers we've been completely cut off from one
00:30:54.160of the world's largest platforms and the end of my statement said a free press is not funded
00:31:02.480filtered and approved by the government it is instead free to challenge it anything else
00:31:09.440is government manipulation in the media and freedom is under attack freedom of the press
00:31:16.640but also freedom of the people to consume the news they want in the way in which they want it
00:31:21.680and and uh an ignorant population is easy easily malleable which i think is what any good
00:31:29.280authoritarian ones. We're in trouble and we're not going to let this go, folks. Sheila, like you0.94
00:31:36.860said, I think you, I think you were on the last boat for a little while coming out of the committee
00:31:42.640that way. So that was good timing. Now that they're going to be reformulating how the committees
00:31:48.040work with this majority government, you're not going to see witness statements like that.
00:31:54.200They're going to be really few and far between. But thank you for fighting the good fight. We
00:31:58.840will continue to fight this. The next thing, like I mentioned, is that now the Kearney government
00:32:04.500with its majority has said out loud with its face, it's going to run full steam ahead with the
00:32:10.480online harms. Yes. That is an octopus of things. We'll take another half hour to talk about that
00:32:16.820someday, but suffice to say it could wind up severely curtailing what you can see, hear and
00:32:23.720say online and it'll go after independent media. Yes. Sheila Gunn-Reed, thank you so much for your
00:32:30.080time. Thank you, Chris. Wow. Like I said, if you have not yet watched Sheila Gunn-Reed's five
00:32:38.720minute testimony, she just goes straight at them right there in committee and speaks up for people
00:32:43.680who support independent media, which I will point out, there are outlets who probably, you know,
00:32:50.480have viewers and audiences that vote differently. Trust me, there's plenty of outlets out there
00:32:55.620that don't take government money, but they're described, they would be described as more
00:32:59.720left-wing. That's good. That's good. All we need is for journalists to become independent again,
00:33:08.020a free from government funding, influence, approval, manipulation, and control. That's it.