Rebel News Podcast - In Harper's magazine, liberal elites get worried about cancel culture — about ten years too late

00:00:00.000 Hello, my rebels. I have good news for you today. I feel in good spirits because we have two free

00:00:06.620 speech mini victories. They're sort of mini, but you know, two is almost a trend. Before I get to

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00:00:45.540 So that's rebelnews.com and eight bucks a month. Okay, here's today's podcast.

00:00:59.440 Tonight, liberal elites start to get worried about cancel culture. About 10 years too late.

00:01:11.040 It's July 7th, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.

00:01:13.460 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:01:19.320 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.

00:01:23.400 The only thing I have to say to the government, the wire publisher, is because it's my bloody

00:01:28.260 right to do so.

00:01:34.480 Cancel culture has gone mad. I've never seen it this bad in the West. It's a mania. It's

00:01:39.860 a madness of crowds. The closest thing I've ever seen to it is photos from the struggle

00:01:45.840 sessions and self-denunciations in communist China in the Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong.

00:01:50.220 I don't know if you ever watched my noontime live stream show, 12 noon Eastern, but I found

00:01:55.420 a copy of that old book that I once bought in Hong Kong called Red Color News Soldier.

00:02:01.840 Dozens of photographs from the Chinese province of Heilongjiang during the Cultural Revolution.

00:02:06.320 Some show trials, struggle sessions, self-criticisms, as they called them. Just incredible. And when

00:02:12.280 I look at it, I think, that's exactly what's happening now. I think of the know-nothing

00:02:17.580 millennial scribblers at the National Post, some of whom had only been working there for

00:02:21.980 a year, who tried to get Rex Murphy fired from their own newspaper for the sin of being

00:02:27.740 a 73-year-old white man. Just a wild mob. Now, Rex Murphy survived that for now, but

00:02:34.340 every day someone else falls, including, for maybe the first time I can remember, some

00:02:38.640 leftists. Wendy Mesley, who was sacked at the CBC for saying the N-word repeatedly at the

00:02:44.840 office. I find it hard to mourn for her, to be honest, given that her entire job description 1.00

00:02:49.200 after the CBC was cancel culture. She was the inquisitor for any conservative who was foolish

00:02:55.000 enough to go on a show. She accused anyone and everyone of being racist, including us here

00:03:00.440 at Rebel News, by the way. You know, in the five and a half years I've worked at Rebel

00:03:05.160 News, I have never heard the N-word spoken by anyone at the company. Not once ever. Wendy

00:03:13.720 Mesley was apparently throwing that word around like confetti at the CBC. Imagine her judging

00:03:18.780 us. But the fact that she's been sacked, and other cultural fancy pants like Jessica Mulroney, 1.00

00:03:25.280 daughter-in-law Brian Mulroney, sacked from, I think it was CTV, shows that this is a tidal

00:03:30.080 wave that will sweep away mighty ships, not just little boats like us. Tomorrow on my noontime

00:03:37.400 show, I'll take you through that picture book, Red Color News Soldier, and take your questions

00:03:42.280 on the live chat. So please tune in. It's a free show. You don't even need the paywall.

00:03:46.160 Well, it's at 12 noon Eastern time tomorrow on YouTube. So things are getting bad. It's

00:03:51.880 a form of madness. But look at this. Look at this. Harper's Magazine. That is an establishment

00:03:59.540 liberal magazine. That's a magazine for the fancy people. They've come out against cancel

00:04:04.580 culture. It's one thing for Rebel News or, I don't know, Breitbart.com to fight against

00:04:09.720 it. Heck, we have to. We're targets of cancel culture and deplatforming, not only from left-wing

00:04:15.040 mobs, but from tech companies too. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. But this is Harper's. There

00:04:22.040 is fancy and liberal an establishment as it gets. A letter on justice and open debate.

00:04:29.240 All right. Let's take a read. It starts with some introductory throat clearing, I call it.

00:04:36.480 Our cultural institutions are facing a moment of trial. Powerful protests for racial and social

00:04:41.520 justice are leading to overdue demands for police reform, along with wider calls for greater

00:04:46.840 equality and inclusion across our society, not least in higher education, journalism, philanthropy

00:04:53.020 and the arts.

00:04:54.820 So they're proving they're woke and they care. And then they come to the word but. And as

00:05:00.060 you know, whenever someone says the word but, you can ignore everything they said before

00:05:05.160 the word but, I'd really like to empty the dishwasher now, but. You know, I'd really like to lend you

00:05:12.160 money, but. I'd really like to help you move apartments next weekend, but. But, but, but.

00:05:18.160 So here's their but. But this needed reckoning has also intensified a new set of moral attitudes

00:05:25.160 and political commitments that tend to weaken our norms of open debate and toleration of differences

00:05:32.160 favor of ideological conformity. Okay, good. I like that but. That's a fancy way of saying

00:05:38.620 people are afraid to speak now. It's been an interesting few months, but people are afraid

00:05:44.520 to speak now. I'll read some more. As we applaud the first development, we also raise our voices

00:05:49.540 against the second. Okay. So now that they've spoken out against the mob, they have to quickly

00:05:55.680 prove their credentials again, just like they said, you know, we're liberal, we're anti-cop,

00:06:00.220 blah, blah, blah, blah. And then they snuck in their belief on free speech. Now they have

00:06:03.880 to immediately bolster their left-wing credentials by bashing Trump a bit as if he's the censor

00:06:09.360 in America. Hey, that's fine. Whatever you need to get courage to take on the mob, if you

00:06:14.520 need to scapegoat Donald Trump to rediscover your own belief in free speech, that's fine.

00:06:19.360 That's a small price to pay compared to the intellectual alternative. The forces of illiberalism

00:06:26.080 are gaining strength throughout the world and have a powerful ally in Donald Trump, who

00:06:31.420 represents the real threat to democracy. Really? Is this the Russia collusion thing again? Or

00:06:37.000 what? I don't know. We're never quite told. But hey, it's fine. It's okay. These are leftists

00:06:42.560 and liberals. They need their safe things near them, like a security blanket, like Linus

00:06:48.040 from that Peanuts cartoon. It's a bit childish to poke at Trump here, but it's okay. They have

00:06:54.380 to bash Trump like you and I have to breathe. Don't worry too much about it because they throw

00:06:59.220 in the word but again. I want to mow the lawn today, but. Trump is bad. But resistance must

00:07:07.960 not be allowed to harden into its own brand of dogma or coercion, which right-wing demagogues

00:07:13.600 are already exploiting. The democratic inclusion we want can be achieved only if we speak out

00:07:19.360 against the intolerant climate that has set in on all sides. On all sides, eh? Again, not

00:07:26.420 sure how right-wing demagogues are exploiting being cancelled and silenced and deplatformed.

00:07:33.060 How exactly? Again, who cares? Let them say that. If they have to tell themselves,

00:07:37.660 that both sides censor, who cares? Baby steps, right? This is a breakthrough for them.

00:07:44.000 The free exchange of information ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming

00:07:48.960 more constricted. Okay, good. They're getting braver, getting braver. So they're dropping

00:07:53.320 anti-Trump slogans every other sentence. Now to stay brave, that is okay. Now they use the

00:07:58.860 word while instead of but. Same thing, same thing. I like it. While we have come to expect

00:08:04.760 this on the radical right, censoriousness is also spreading more widely in our culture,

00:08:11.500 an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency

00:08:16.300 to dissolve complex policy issues into a blinding moral certainty. Hey, can you tell me the last

00:08:23.940 time a conservative censored anyone? Any time a conservative mob rioted to protest anything?

00:08:32.080 A conservative club on a university blocking a liberal or leftist speaker? Ever? A conservative

00:08:37.520 somehow got a liberal journalist fired from a liberal magazine for being too liberal? I can't either. I

00:08:43.400 mean, about 50 years ago, there was still some censorship of pornography and obscenity. And some of that did come

00:08:50.280 from the religious right. It's true. Or at least the rhetoric did. I don't think the religious right 0.94

00:08:54.700 ever banned anything. Though I seem to recall it was Tipper Gore, Al Gore's former wife, who led the

00:09:00.840 charge against swear words in pop music. She's a Democrat, of course. Now I'm not for censorship,

00:09:06.480 but I do agree that the constant denigration of women as sexual objects in rap music, for example,

00:09:12.780 that seeped into the larger culture. I think it's had a coarsening effect on all of society,

00:09:17.240 especially on young people. You don't have to be a censor to notice that. Okay, back to the

00:09:21.900 statement today. We uphold the value of robust and even caustic counter-speech from all quarters.

00:09:29.740 But it is now all too common to hear calls for swift and severe retribution in response to

00:09:34.800 perceived transgressions of speech and thought. More troubling still, institutional leaders in a

00:09:39.360 spirit of panicked damage control are delivering hasty and disproportionate punishments instead of

00:09:45.220 reconsidered reforms. Editors are fired for running controversial pieces. I'll come back to that.

00:09:52.940 Books withdrawn for alleged inauthenticity. Journalists are barred from writing on certain

00:09:57.120 topics. Professors are investigated for quoting works of literature in class. A researcher is fired

00:10:02.460 for circulating a peer-reviewed academic study. And the heads of organizations are ousted for what are

00:10:07.840 sometimes just clumsy mistakes. Whatever the arguments around each particular incident,

00:10:11.600 the result has been to steadily narrow the boundaries of what can be said without the

00:10:16.000 threat of reprisal. We are already paying the price in greater risk aversion among writers,

00:10:22.040 artists, and journalists who fear for their livelihoods if they depart from the consensus

00:10:26.220 or even lack sufficient zeal in agreement. Hey, that's pretty good stuff. And they got all that

00:10:32.660 out without another impeached Trump commercial. This isn't bad. Okay, last paragraph.

00:10:37.320 This stifling atmosphere will ultimately harm the most vital causes of our time.

00:10:43.280 The restriction of debate, whether by a repressive government or an intolerant society,

00:10:47.580 invariably hurts those who lack power. It makes everyone less capable of democratic participation.

00:10:53.360 The way to defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish

00:10:59.060 them away. We refuse any false choice between justice and freedom, which cannot exist without each other.

00:11:05.900 As writers, we need a culture that leaves us room for experimentation, risk-taking, and even mistakes.

00:11:11.460 We need to preserve the possibility of good-faith disagreement without dire professional consequences.

00:11:16.320 If we won't defend the very thing on which our work depends, we shouldn't expect the public or the state

00:11:21.940 to defend it for us. Hey, that's good. I can't quarrel with that.

00:11:25.880 Well, free speech is indeed a tool for the powerless. People who have power don't actually

00:11:31.520 need free speech. They already control things. They're incumbents. They have inertia. They're in.

00:11:38.260 People on the outside with no money or power, they only have speech and their ideas. Think of all the

00:11:43.440 liberal causes over the years, from the suffragettes a century ago to black civil rights 50 years ago to gay 0.57

00:11:49.620 rights. When each cause was new, they were deemed offensive ideas. And those offensive ideas were

00:11:55.580 rejected by the establishment. Speech was the great equalizer for them. How perverse that now

00:12:01.800 elements of those same leftist causes censor their own opponents now that they are in. Black Lives 0.74

00:12:07.960 Matter, radical feminism, actually these days, transgenderism. I think that's the most censorious 1.00

00:12:13.260 ideology in the world today. More strict even than radical Islam. So kudos to the people who drafted this 1.00

00:12:19.400 letter and to those who signed it. I actually know some of the names personally. I know more of them

00:12:24.160 by reputation. It's an uneven list. Some people are intellectual titans, I'd say. Some seem a bit out

00:12:30.760 of place. Some are scholars. Some are authors, novelists, writers of fiction. I saw a Hollywood

00:12:34.780 agent on there. Some are nonfiction news people. I see Margaret Atwood is on there. David Brooks,

00:12:42.120 the boring pundit, but good for him. There's a former ambassador on there. I see Michelle Goldberg is on

00:12:47.960 and that's interesting. She's a New York Times columnist. You know, they fired their editorial

00:12:54.040 page editor just a few weeks ago for running an op-ed by a U.S. senator who opposed the Black Lives

00:13:00.340 Matter riots a bit too firmly for the time. Seriously, a sitting U.S. senator writes a column.

00:13:06.020 I mean, agree with it or disagree with it, whatever. But they literally fired the editor. I know that

00:13:11.060 headline says he resigned. Don't be naive. They fired him for letting a different point of view appear

00:13:16.500 in their opinion pages where you're supposed to have an opinion. Maybe Michelle Goldberg, 1.00

00:13:22.120 who was so brave in Harper's Magazine, maybe she can be a bit braver at the New York Times where she

00:13:28.420 works. I see Wynton Marsalis, the musician, is on there. That's a good thing. No one is more conformist

00:13:34.820 than the music business. What was about dissent and dispute in the 60s is now about conformity totally.

00:13:41.540 I'm sure someone will call him a racist for signing this. I see J.K. Rowling is on there.

00:13:47.340 Her own protégés denounced her for daring to say that men who say they're women are not actually

00:13:53.440 women. I mean, this nobody who would be a nobody were it not for Rowling's books,

00:14:01.100 he denounced her. He's a man denouncing her. Her own agency. I mean, she has made her agent

00:14:07.880 tens of millions of dollars, maybe a hundred million dollars. They still denounced her for 0.78

00:14:14.140 saying women are women and men are men. And I mean, J.K. Rowling is very nice to gay people

00:14:20.600 and transgender people. She's very progressive. But she just insists that no, transgender women 0.96

00:14:26.280 are not biological women. And for that, they fired her. She made them millionaires. They fired her. 1.00

00:14:35.200 But good for her for not bending the knee. I'm pleased that Salman Rushdie signed this too. He was

00:14:40.700 the first prominent Western victim of Islamist censorship, a fatwa, against him more than 30

00:14:45.340 years ago for writing a novel that mocked Mohammed. The U.K. back then stood up for him, protected him, 0.95

00:14:50.660 gave him 24-7 security. But those days are done. Today, the U.K. enforces fatwas against what

00:14:57.520 they call Islamophobia. I like what he says about the word but when it comes to free speech. Remember

00:15:03.020 this. And now the moment somebody says, yes, I believe in free speech, but I stop listening.

00:15:08.700 You know, I believe in free speech, but people should behave themselves. I believe in free

00:15:22.780 speech, but we shouldn't upset anybody. I believe in free speech, but let's not go too far.

00:15:28.640 The point about it is the moment you limit free speech, it's not free speech.

00:15:33.060 The point about it is that it's free. I like that, the bumper game. So there are some good

00:15:39.920 people on the list, and there are some weird posers. Liars even, I think. This guy,

00:15:45.460 Jeet here, who used to work at the National Post, overlapped with my tour of duty there years ago,

00:15:51.280 he signed this letter, which is weird, because he's actually a cancel culture guy. Just a few weeks

00:15:58.120 ago, he said this. He wrote, I'm pretty sure everyone doesn't agree on that, and there are

00:16:03.080 people obsessed with a largely fictitious cancel culture who ignore real problems. Or he said this

00:16:10.320 in November. He said, kind of shows that cancel culture isn't a thing, no? And he said this

00:16:14.880 in December. He said, it's kind of amazing that people believe cancel culture is real. And he said

00:16:20.380 this. You can criticize cancel culture, social justice warriors, political correctness, etc.,

00:16:25.720 all you want. But the fact remains that a much bigger problem is that the mainstream media is

00:16:30.240 constantly whitewashing bigots and normalizing bigotry. Oh, my God. I'm not sure what this guy's

00:16:36.860 doing on the list. He's actually a race hustler censor in his own right. Well, I mean, who cares?

00:16:43.920 If a weird opportunist is willing to sign a bold letter like this, maybe that's an indication

00:16:49.920 that it's safer than we think to stand up for freedom. Here's hoping. Hey, stay with us. I've

00:16:56.020 got some good news on the Freedom Front next.

00:16:58.480 Welcome back. Well, I was sitting at my desk and I sometimes procrastinate by looking at Twitter.

00:17:17.520 And by sometimes, I mean, well, let's be honest, over 100,000 times since I joined Twitter,

00:17:23.280 apparently. But it's my source of news, breaking news. And look what I just saw out of the blue,

00:17:29.780 a series of tweets from our friend Candace Malcolm. Let me just read the first one here.

00:17:35.240 I am excited to announce a new initiative, the Independent Press Gallery of Canada.

00:17:42.480 It's open to all independent journalists and outlets, regardless of where you land on the

00:17:48.220 political spectrum. Find out more here. And there's a link and there's more tweets. But I'm

00:17:53.440 just going to read one more. I was so excited by this. The purpose of this organization is to

00:17:58.800 provide an alternative to the stale and closed minded parliamentary press gallery. Ain't that the

00:18:05.460 truth? As you may know, I've been trying to get True North's journalists recognized, accredited in

00:18:11.440 Ottawa for months and have faced ridiculous and unreasonable barriers. Okay, I'll just read one more

00:18:17.080 because it's so good. I've spoken to several other independent journalists and smaller outlets

00:18:22.900 who've also been excluded and bullied by the PPG. That's Parliamentary Press Gallery. Many indie or

00:18:30.400 smaller outlets don't have the same resources as True North, i.e. the ability to go to court as we did

00:18:36.000 and won during the last lecture. Okay, I'll just read one more. I tell you, this put me in such a good

00:18:40.880 mood when I saw this today. Freedom of the press and independent journalism are sacrosanct in a free

00:18:47.020 and democratic society. While the government tries to create barriers and regulate our profession,

00:18:53.140 we need to promote and encourage a culture of free inquiry and thought in Canada in order to preserve

00:18:58.900 these values. Okay, I'll read the last one. I can't tell you how happy I am. That is why today I am

00:19:06.880 pleased to be announcing the launch of the Independent Press Gallery of Canada. We are now accepting applications

00:19:12.240 for membership and sending out membership cards. Laminated, I'm sure. Our first event will be in

00:19:19.760 late July. Details to come apply today. And I happen to know that one of our reporters was literally the

00:19:27.660 second person in the country to get his application in. There's probably a gold rush on. Imagine that.

00:19:32.760 An actual independent press gallery. I was joking about the laminator. I'll tell you the punchline for that

00:19:39.300 joke later. Joining me now is my friend and my ally and the leader of the Independent Press Gallery,

00:19:46.440 the author of those tweets, Candace Malcolm from True North. Candace, I got to tell you,

00:19:52.240 there's a lot of bad news out there when it comes to cancel culture and censorship.

00:19:57.220 And you can get down on it. But when I saw those tweets from you today, I tell you, I felt hopeful.

00:20:03.480 I felt hopeful again. And I felt good. And I just thought, maybe we can do this. Maybe there's

00:20:09.180 enough of us like-minded. All our journalists are going to join. I know Kian was the second person

00:20:15.560 in the whole world to register. Signing me up.

00:20:18.160 Well, we're excited and absolutely we're going to sign up, you and your journalists, Ezra. I think

00:20:26.100 the only reason Kian was second was because Andrew Lawton beat him to the punch in applying. But that's

00:20:31.300 because I gave him a heads up about it before I sent those tweets out. But we're really excited as

00:20:37.920 well. Ezra, you know, in the fall when we teamed up to go to court and to sue the federal government

00:20:44.420 in order to allow us into those debates that were run by the government. And, you know, Trudeau was

00:20:50.420 trying to close the door to people who weren't friendly to his ideology. It was great to be able

00:20:54.860 to team up with a like-minded organization. And I know we're not the only two independent journalist

00:21:00.680 organizations in Canada. There are so many others who I've spoken to, who I've dealt with, who I've heard

00:21:05.500 from, who also face these barriers, who can't get their journalists into the parliamentary press

00:21:10.200 gallery. It's sort of an antiquated idea that the government runs the club of journalists,

00:21:15.060 isn't it? I mean, it doesn't really make sense, especially in this modern age of independent

00:21:19.440 outlets and the ability, like we talked about last week on your show, you know, there's so many

00:21:23.900 journalists out there, so many outlets that have the ability to bypass their traditional distribution

00:21:28.960 streams and reach Canadians directly. So why do we have to go through the government in order to get

00:21:34.040 accredited and in order to be considered journalists? Well, we shouldn't. And that's why we're starting

00:21:38.660 this. We're trying to create a culture, really foster an environment in Canada of freedom of

00:21:43.700 the press and independence of the press. And I'm so glad that you're on board and so excited for the

00:21:48.260 future of this organization. Well, it made my day. And you know what was so important? I read all your

00:21:53.880 tweets. I was only going to read one, but they were all so good. Each one of them had an important

00:21:58.040 point. And you said that anyone on the entire political spectrum, you don't have to be right-wing

00:22:03.880 or left-wing. You're just a journalist. And if you're independent journalists, you're welcome.

00:22:07.780 That's so important because you and I, I think we have a similar worldview. I think I may be like

00:22:12.560 1% more conservative than you, whatever. It doesn't even matter. But it would be great if independent

00:22:17.660 liberals and progressives and people who don't even see themselves as right or left-wing, like let

00:22:24.620 there be anyone publishing their point of view. Why shouldn't they be part of a press gallery too?

00:22:31.100 I find that hopeful. And hopefully there can be people like that, liberals, who still believe in

00:22:37.960 freedom. Well, I think there are, Ezra. I think that out there, you know, we sort of get marginalized

00:22:43.660 and the establishment people try to write us off as being too conservative or right-wing or whatever.

00:22:50.200 But I know that there are other people who are troubled by the Trudeau government's sort of

00:22:54.520 increasing involvement in the press by that report that came out earlier this year that made all these

00:23:00.740 recommendations to regulate and license journalists. The idea that the parliamentary press gallery is

00:23:05.660 so exclusive. It isn't just too conservative outlets, although we feel the brunt of it. But a lot of

00:23:11.360 freelancers can't get in as well. So, you know, I think it's so important. And I really do hope that

00:23:16.080 journalists from across the political spectrum right now, I'm still working on reaching out and

00:23:20.240 recruiting people. But, you know, the board members are going to include journalists from across the

00:23:24.740 spectrum, not just conservatives, but hopefully liberals and NDP people as well. And same with

00:23:30.620 journalists outlets. I would be happy to accept applications from, you know, the TAI or Canada

00:23:35.920 Land, should they apply. And I hope they will, because really the point of this organization,

00:23:40.460 Ezra, is to promote and, again, foster and celebrate independent journalism. You're right that journalism

00:23:46.300 in itself isn't ideological. But talking about the sort of editorial position of the outlets,

00:23:51.640 it really, it doesn't matter where you are. Obviously, you know, there are limits. I'm not

00:23:57.500 going to say that the independent press gallery is open to people who, like, promote violence or

00:24:02.100 something. If Antifa applies, I'll probably say no, just as a heads up. But, you know, as far as true

00:24:09.200 journalists who are trying to report and do journalism, absolutely, it's open to everyone.

00:24:15.180 Yeah. You know, you mentioned Canada Land. I have deep ideological disagreements, deep editorial

00:24:20.240 disagreements with them. But I have to acknowledge they've made a go of it, I think, without government

00:24:26.900 money. They just got a $1 million three-year investment from some tech guy in Vancouver.

00:24:32.860 To me, you know, he's a man of the left, Jesse Brown in Canada Land. But he's making a go of it.

00:24:40.440 And instead of being marginalized by the fancy pants, you know, that would be someone on the

00:24:48.380 left who should join the independent press gallery. Now, I want to ask you what the word

00:24:53.200 independent means. I mean, I went through the website, but sort of quickly. There's an emphasis

00:24:59.080 on being independent from government. I think being a government journalist is an oxymoron. I mean,

00:25:04.520 how can you be? Oh, it's like being a government punk rock band. If you're part of the government,

00:25:10.840 you can't really be punk rock. So is there any rule about taking government dough? Like,

00:25:17.400 and I'm not trying to put you in a tough spot here. I bet you've thought of this already.

00:25:22.460 Let's say if, oh, I don't know, Rosemary Barton of the CBC applied. On the one hand,

00:25:28.800 she is a journalist. And, and I suppose inclusion and ought to say, well, let her in. And on the

00:25:35.760 other hand, she does work for a state broadcaster. What would you say to a CBC reporter? And what

00:25:41.820 would you say to China Daily? That's a state owned propaganda broadcaster run by the Communist 0.64

00:25:50.660 Party of China. They're actually a member of the parliamentary press gallery that won't let

00:25:55.060 you and me. Now, I'm not trying to grill you here. I'm just curious about your thinking. And I'm sure

00:25:59.740 I'll be persuaded either way. Well, no, these are really good questions. And, you know, this is a

00:26:04.460 new organization. I just launched it today, but I have given it a little bit of thought, Ezra. And

00:26:08.920 basically where I come down on this is there are two general principles that we ask members to abide

00:26:14.660 by. First is something called the Bordeaux principles, which is just a general journalistic

00:26:19.520 ethics that have been developed by a broader international federation of journalism in a complex,

00:26:24.660 in a accompaniment with the United Nations. So it's just very basic journalistic principles. So

00:26:30.420 we ask that journalists abide to that and pledge to uphold those those journalistic standards. And,

00:26:35.500 you know, it's pretty basic stuff like, you know, you don't take money for stories, you don't you

00:26:39.660 don't pay sources, all that kind of stuff. But then the other principle, which is exactly right,

00:26:45.040 what you're talking about, the word independence, we ask that journalists do not take funding from the

00:26:50.760 government, because it's my belief that as soon as a as a journalist becomes an employee of the state

00:26:56.480 or gets paid by the state or gets subsidized by the state, they're no longer truly independent in

00:27:01.940 the same way as those Bordeaux principles apply. So you can't be taking money from Trudeau will also be

00:27:07.700 the one that's pledged to hold him accountable. I don't think that those two principles can be squared.

00:27:12.720 So so so I would say no to membership for state run organizations like the CBC. However, you know,

00:27:18.940 we're going to be hosting all kinds of events, we're going to be doing press conferences and

00:27:22.200 facilitating all kinds of media events, and our events will be open. So so so I wouldn't want

00:27:28.320 government employees to be members. But I think that they should still be able to participate in

00:27:33.180 our events, which is, you know, completely the opposite of the parliamentary press gallery,

00:27:36.700 who you know, you have to be a member even just to walk in the door. So we we still want to

00:27:40.680 maintain openness and be inclusive and, and, you know, really welcome people. And hey,

00:27:44.920 if Rosemary Barton ever wants to leave the CBC, and do her own initiative, maybe join an independent 0.99

00:27:50.200 firm or strike on a strike out on her own. I'd be happy to reconsider and consider her membership,

00:27:57.940 Ezra. Yeah, you know, I think it would be neat, just to get to know the other independent journalists

00:28:04.560 in the country. And it would be neat if there was a place, either digitally, where they could

00:28:09.340 hang out, or like you say, events. I was talking the other day with Cindy Gu. She's the publisher

00:28:16.360 of Epoch Times, which is one of my favorite newspapers. And that made me think, well, there's

00:28:22.380 even foreign language like the ethnic press. Like in there's a lot of Chinese language news media in

00:28:29.800 Canada. Some are pro communist, some are very much pro democracy. Wouldn't that be great to have some

00:28:36.100 democracy oriented ethnic press? I don't regard Epoch Times as ethnic press. It's, you know,

00:28:42.540 people of all backgrounds work there. And it's in the English language. But wouldn't it be neat if

00:28:46.520 there was all sorts of people that we don't even really know about? But the one thing we had in

00:28:51.580 common was we believed in independent journalism. I hope this really grows. I'm not asking for you to

00:28:57.780 reveal any confidences. But before we turn the camera on, you said you had other editors and

00:29:04.860 publishers reach out to you proactively before you could even call them. Is that right?

00:29:10.160 Yeah, that's right. I had a bunch of emails sent out trying to, again, recruit members and recruit

00:29:14.660 board members and stuff like that. And as soon as I sent out those tweets, which was really just sort

00:29:19.080 of a soft launch, because we're going to be doing a big event at the end of July. And that will be sort

00:29:23.560 of the main launch. But the soft launch through the tweets, I was already getting DMs and emails

00:29:28.480 and texts of other kind of professional colleagues and people in the media asking questions and sort

00:29:34.980 of applauding the effort. So I think that there's definitely a demand for this, Ezra. There are a lot

00:29:39.800 of people who understand this sort of changing landscape and see the need for this, especially

00:29:45.040 just given all of the things that Trudeau is doing. So we're having a great response so far. I would

00:29:50.740 love to branch out to some of those outlets that you mentioned. I'm a big fan of Epoch Times. And

00:29:55.880 I thought that that CBC attack piece against them earlier this summer was horrendous. And it made me

00:30:01.380 want to cheer for them all the more. And if there are other language, for language, ethnic medias

00:30:06.900 are called sometimes in Canada that want to join, more than happy to. The whole idea is to have this

00:30:13.220 community of journalists that we can potentially maybe down the road will do award shows and journalism

00:30:19.380 awards and all that kind of stuff. I can envision doing a lot of things together and also internships,

00:30:24.420 getting young people interested in independent journalism and giving them career advice and

00:30:29.460 mentoring opportunities and internships and all that kind of stuff. I think that the possibilities

00:30:33.780 really are endless. The parliamentary press gallery has really squandered an opportunity and

00:30:38.820 really it's a closed door organization, very Ottawa centric. Whereas, you know, this is for all of

00:30:43.140 Canada and for all different kinds of journalists, not just the very strict, rigid ones that the PPG

00:30:51.460 says that you have to be in order to be part of their club. So I think there's a lot of potential.

00:30:54.980 I'm really excited about it, Ezra. You know, I love the idea of an awards show

00:30:59.780 and students. I remember six years ago, when I was still at Sun News, we had a student journalism

00:31:06.020 conference. We brought in kids from across the country. They were just students. But there's a lot of young

00:31:10.820 people who want to be journalists and they get sucked into the government journalism group think.

00:31:16.260 And sometimes you never sort of see them again. If there was another way for it. It sounds very exciting.

00:31:20.740 I got I got so many questions, but I don't want to. And I know you're still sort of figuring these things out.

00:31:25.540 But I know our viewers are going to be thinking this. So again, if you don't have the answer just yet,

00:31:31.220 I forgive you, given that you just launched this thing a few hours ago. But maybe something to think about is this.

00:31:37.380 I bet that a number of our viewers are saying, well, I'm not a journalist myself and I don't really

00:31:42.900 plan to be, but I want to support this. Can there be some either? I don't know. I mean, would you be

00:31:49.780 open just to a layman who wasn't a practicing journalist who would say, well, I want to support it

00:31:54.740 maybe with a donation or even be like an affiliate member? I just want to give my moral support,

00:32:00.900 but I want to go beyond just sort of quietly rooting for them. Like I bet there's some people out there

00:32:04.740 who would say, oh, well, if you guys are going to have a journalism contest, I'll chip in a hundred

00:32:09.540 bucks and maybe have a little bit of a cash prize there because the left sure does that. Or maybe

00:32:14.740 if someone said, well, I'd like to get involved if you're hiring student interns. I don't know. I

00:32:21.220 guess I'm saying I bet there's people watching who aren't professional journalists who want to help

00:32:26.340 you anyways. So something to think about. Yeah, absolutely. And I think these are the kind of

00:32:31.220 things that we can help fill in the gaps and we'll sort of learn as we go. I've never obviously

00:32:35.860 launched an independent press gallery before. So I still, again, thinking things through,

00:32:40.260 but I think you're right. I think that we have to expand it beyond just journalism because a lot of

00:32:44.980 the comments that I was getting on social media were people applauding and asking if they could make

00:32:49.940 donations as well. So I think that that's something that we're going to have to think about

00:32:54.180 and potentially open up. You know, maybe we can do a big awards gala where we give awards and we invite the

00:33:00.740 public and they can come and watch and participate as well. And again, the idea is to have an open

00:33:06.900 community, not a closed door thing like the parliamentary press gallery. So we'll work on

00:33:11.940 it and I'll have an answer next time we talk. Yeah. And I'm sorry, I don't mean to be lobbying

00:33:15.620 these things at you. I just, my mind is racing of all the things. I mean, I'll just throw one more at

00:33:19.380 you. I remember last October when you guys at True North and we guys here at The Rebel both went to

00:33:25.540 court in the federal court on an emergency basis because Trudeau kept both of our reporters out of,

00:33:32.420 uh, out of the debates. Well, wouldn't it be neat if the independent press gallery would be a legal

00:33:39.700 intervener? Again, I'm just brainstorming here. Look at me. Uh, I just want to go a million miles an

00:33:44.420 hour, but we, I felt alone in that court. I mean, I wasn't alone. We were there with you guys.

00:33:49.780 Uh, and, but it was still pretty quiet in there. There was no group there, but wouldn't it be neat

00:33:56.740 if they, if we had maybe a free speech, uh, committee and maybe occasionally if there was

00:34:03.540 some case of censorship that the independent press gallery itself would go to court as an intervener

00:34:10.660 or just to, so it wasn't just small. And this is one of your tweets also, like you and I managed to

00:34:18.580 muster some crowdfunded donations to fight, but there's individual reporters out there. There's

00:34:24.180 no way. I mean, we spent 18 grand in court that day and the, and the days leading up to, there's

00:34:29.700 no way an ordinary reporter is going to come up with 18 grand for a day in court. Hey, I'm just

00:34:34.740 brainstorming. Don't mind me. And I'm not trying to give you work, but holy cow, is there a lot of

00:34:40.020 work to be done here. And we, all our journalists, I know we're going to want to join. And, uh, I think

00:34:45.700 it's going to be great. Well, thank you, Ezra. And absolutely. That was part of the idea behind

00:34:50.020 this. When, when we went to court, I recognized that we're in a fortunate situation true north.

00:34:54.820 You know, we, we crowdfund, we have a fairly big audience, well connected and that kind of thing.

00:34:59.940 And we had the resources to go to court, but you know, if you're just a independent person,

00:35:04.500 a freelancer, someone who's doing really good investigative work and you get, you come up to

00:35:10.020 one of these barriers, it might just be enough to sort of crush your spirit and get, get you to go

00:35:14.660 home and, and not pursue what you're looking for. So I definitely think that the idea behind

00:35:19.780 the independent press gallery is that there's strength in numbers. If we can create a large

00:35:24.020 enough community of journalists demanding access to the government, demanding that we

00:35:28.500 be part of these debates and be part of these briefings, you know, you wouldn't see lone Kian Bextie 0.96

00:35:33.780 getting pulled off by a RCMP thug outside of the prime minister's residence. If there was 10 journalists

00:35:40.180 and the presence of the independent press gallery there, you know, again, there were strengths in

00:35:44.340 numbers. So the idea is that we're stronger together. And I think that, that, that definitely

00:35:49.140 is part of the purpose of this organization. And we're going to build up to that and, and be there

00:35:53.300 for other journalists who, who go through that. So hopefully, you know, what happened to Kian that day 0.99

00:35:58.420 doesn't happen again. And, and again, we were, we have a force to push back against that kind of

00:36:03.780 bullying that does unfortunately happen too often in Canada. Well, that's exciting. I'm going to let

00:36:08.900 you go. Otherwise I'll keep you here all day, just peppering you with questions and suggestions.

00:36:13.060 And I'm like a puppy, just too excited. I'm wagging my tail because I'm so excited about the independent

00:36:19.060 press gallery and the website is easy to remember. It's independentpressgallery.ca, right?

00:36:23.700 That's right. All right. Well, Candace, you made my day. I wish you good luck. And I don't even think

00:36:30.820 you need luck because you're going to have so many supporters and finally people have a place to go if

00:36:38.660 they want to be independent journalists. And we're going to sign up all our talent. We're all going to

00:36:44.180 join. And I hope many others do. And you know what? It wouldn't shock me if you and I look back a

00:36:50.180 couple of years from now. And we say, huh, I remember when the independent press gallery just

00:36:54.820 started, Candace, and we had application number two. And it wouldn't shock me if you had 50

00:37:02.580 or more members a year from now. 50. That's my prediction. 50 members in the IPG one year from

00:37:10.420 now. Let's check if I'm right in a year. All right. That sounds great. Take care,

00:37:15.060 my friend. Good luck. All right. Thank you. All right. There you have it. Candace Malcolm. Normally,

00:37:19.780 I just say she's the founder of True North. But today,

00:37:23.460 she's also the founder and the president of the Independent Press Gallery. Stay with us for more.

00:37:29.060 Hey, welcome back. On my monologue last night, William writes,

00:37:43.780 funny how the virus can tell the difference between evil sunbathers and virtuous Black Lives Matter 1.00

00:37:49.140 rioters. Yeah. I think you're so right on that. In the media, politicians,

00:37:57.540 I think that politicians have actually turned the mask into a symbol of your political stripe

00:38:08.820 because they choose to say it's necessary only when it suits them. Not necessary for Black Lives Matter 1.00

00:38:16.340 rallies. Necessary for Trump rallies. They've sort of turned it into if you're wearing a mask,

00:38:21.940 it's a sign you're a conformist leftist. If you're not wearing a mask,

00:38:26.100 it's a sign that you're an independent, free person. But I think that's inevitable,

00:38:30.580 given how political most of these public health officials are. Henry writes,

00:38:37.300 I live next door to a park in Vancouver, BC. Every day, parents and children are running wild.

00:38:42.420 The park is the fullest I have ever seen. No one has a problem with that. I absolutely believe that.

00:38:48.820 And the thing is, the more things you cut off, the crowder, the crowded-er everything else gets.

00:38:56.340 But people's own actions shows that they're not really believing the public health theater.

00:39:02.340 You know, we call airport security, security theater. In the 19 years that we've had the transit,

00:39:10.020 the TSA in the States are cats up here. They've never caught a terrorist in 19 years. It's security

00:39:16.820 theater. What we're seeing now is public health theater. The pandemic's over people.

00:39:23.860 On my interview with Kurt Schlichter on his new book, Ron writes,

00:39:26.900 Great to see Kurt again. Love his passionate rants. Oh, he gets so revved up. He starts calm and cool,

00:39:33.380 and then he just starts punching, punching. I think he's a good egg, and it was great to see him

00:39:38.340 again. And that looks like a great book. And he's published by Regnery, which is a pretty top-notch

00:39:43.220 title. I think that's going to do very well. It's nice to see a pro-Trump book. It's going to be

00:39:47.620 about 200 anti-Trump books. I just know it. Anyways, that's the show for today. I thought there was

00:39:53.380 two pieces of good news today. Number one was that some fancy people signed a pro-free speech

00:39:58.420 letter. How often do you see the hat? And there was even a couple of Canadians on it.

00:40:03.300 And number two, Candace and the independent press gallery. That's some good news that's

00:40:09.380 really tangible here in Canada. So maybe I'm a little more upbeat than I normally am.

00:40:13.940 Thanks for watching today. Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rubble World

00:40:17.860 Headquarters to you at home. Good night, and keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - July 08, 2020

In Harper's magazine, liberal elites get worried about cancel culture — about ten years too late

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