Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) wants to ban the media from reporting on public transit facilities unless they get permission from the City of Edmonton before they can do their job. The Canadian Constitution Foundation says they'll take them to court.
00:00:00.000So thus, I found myself riding the LRT in Edmonton last Sunday when I didn't really need to use it to get anywhere.
00:00:06.040You see, the Edmonton Transit Service, which goes by ETS, put out a statement a little while ago to media outlets
00:00:11.460that said media would be banned from public transit facilities unless they sought and got permission to go there first.
00:00:18.040Now, being a unionized gang, of course, you could only get permission from 9 to 5 on weekdays from these guys.
00:00:24.140So if there were any events that needed coverage and they happened to be happening in the evenings or the weekends,
00:00:28.780I guess the press wouldn't be allowed to report on it.
00:00:31.380The requirement's ridiculous. It's a clear violation of freedom of the press.
00:00:35.600The Canadian Constitution Foundation immediately released a statement saying they're going to take ETS to court if they don't back off on this.
00:00:42.240Higher-ups within Edmonton City Hall, they scrambled to respond and they claimed there was no such restriction placed on media.
00:00:47.680People just misunderstood the statement.
00:00:50.100Oh, I see. Well, let's have a look at the statement, then I'll read it to you and see if you misunderstand it or not.
00:00:55.020Here's the statement. It came under the heading, Media on ETS Property.
00:00:59.620It says, media are required, required, not suggested, to notify the City of Edmonton prior to reporting, filming, or conducting business on ETS property.
00:01:08.540This includes transit centers, LRT stations, stops along the Valley Line Southeast, and inside all buses or trains.
00:01:14.840If you wish to gain access to ETS property, please contact blah, blah, blah.
00:01:18.940How could this be misunderstood? It was pretty clear. They're saying media needs their permission to go on public property and do its job.
00:01:27.720Now, the reason ETS wants to keep us from reporting on transit property is pretty obvious.
00:01:32.920As with most major cities, Edmonton's transit systems turned into a dystopian, addict-ridden nightmare.
00:01:38.620Riding had become unpleasant at best and outright dangerous at worst.
00:01:42.300Edmonton police at one point even recommended people avoid using transit.
00:01:45.640Now, like all good bureaucracies, rather than fixing the problem, the first instinct on the part of the pointy head to little bureaucrats was to cover it up, and that meant banning the press.
00:01:55.640Former Western Standard reporter Arthur Green used to drive them nuts.
00:01:58.620He made it a personal mission to expose the addict-fueled mayhem happening in Edmonton's downtown and on the transit systems.
00:02:04.780He constantly embarrassed ETS as he posted photos and video of some of the horrific scenes happening on transit facilities.
00:02:10.840Green's photos, they were often actually pretty tough to view as he highlighted the human misery and waste happening on city streets and transit lines, but they needed to be seen.
00:02:19.380Rest assured, Arthur's work was part of what inspired the idiotic attempt by ETS to control the press on public transit.
00:02:27.580So when I read that ETS statement, my first thought was, who the hell do you guys think you are?
00:02:32.180And I knew I'd have to put their rules to the test.
00:02:33.860I mean, the sheer arrogance of these bureaucrats and thinking they could stop media was galling.
00:02:37.920They likely felt inspired, though, as they've watched the federal government beat on Canada's free press with Bills C-11 and C-18, so why can't civic governments do it too, right?
00:02:46.660It appeared to some paper pushers it's open season on press rights, and they wanted to pile on.
00:02:51.020I tweeted out I'd be riding on city transit and live-tweeted my actions as I rode on and reported it on the conditions on the train and in the facilities.
00:02:58.060I didn't really expect ETS to do anything about it, and they didn't.
00:03:01.120Their requirement for permission was just a bluff.
00:03:37.720I might have been seeing things at their best, but all the same, ETS and Edmonton authorities were clearly trying to keep transit safe and clean.
00:03:43.600Now, if I'd been blocked from going on transit, or if I'd listened to them, I wouldn't have been able to report this good news.
00:03:53.780The reason they were making such efforts was due to the work of Arthur Green and other journalists who were willing to cover the disorder and issues on Edmonton Transit System.
00:04:01.420Rest assured, the powers that be would have preferred to just ignore the issue if they could.
00:04:05.440Free and unfettered media holds governments accountable.
00:04:08.380They bring issues into the living rooms of citizens who wouldn't have been able to see what's going on otherwise.
00:04:12.460I mean, most people never realized the mayhem happening in transit until they saw the images and saw the stories about it in the media.
00:04:18.400Then they demanded politicians do something about it.
00:04:21.180Media is financially embattled right now by changing times and politically threatened by authoritarian politicians and bureaucrats.
00:04:29.760If the pressures continue as they have, though, we're going to lose more access to unfiltered information and news, and our entire democracy could then be threatened.
00:04:36.240So be sure to speak up loudly when arrogant and dimwitted bureaucrats, such as those of ETS, try to block free media.
00:04:43.700Because if they get away with it, we all suffer from it.
00:04:46.220So if they take things, they're going to cause Will Zeparding.
00:04:54.680If we hit a few seconds soon, I'll run a few seconds until they've done the decision.