The Rebel to Rabble Review: Middle East media biases By iPolitics. Published on May 28, 2021 1:00am Indigenous protesters square off with RCMP officers at a checkpoint in northern B.C. in January 2020. (Jesse Winter/Star Metro)
Amid ongoing protests of an old-growth logging operation on Vancouver Island,
Ricochet Mediahas joined a new legal push to have the British Columbia Supreme Court force the RCMP to “provide journalists with reasonable access” to the police pushback outside Port Renfrew.
“Parties to the application include the Canadian Association of Journalists, Ricochet Media, Capital Daily Victoria, The Narwhal, Canada’s National Observer, APTN, The Discourse, IndigiNews, and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression,” the Montreal outlet notes. It’s an “unprecedented collective action on behalf of the Canadian news industry,“ which, they contend, “is the culmination of eight years of the national police force using the same playbook to frus
Police have set up exclusion zones for protesters and media since enforcing a Supreme Court injunction on behalf of Teal-Jones Group on May 17. RCMP then changed strategies and said they would “escort” media into certain areas.
However, there were reports that two journalists, a documentary filmmaker and Indigenous media representative, were arrested. The CAJ said there have been several cases where media has not been allowed to witness arrests because the RCMP are using broad exclusion zones and, in some cases, refusing entry to media.
“Over the past week, we’ve repeatedly seen the RCMP shift the goalposts on how it plans to allow journalists access in order to cover this important public interest story,” said Brent Jolly, CAJ president.
Canada’s National Observer, along with several other news organizations, is planning to file a legal application requesting the RCMP allow journalists fair access to cover the Fairy Creek blockades happening on Vancouver Island.
Journalists association challenging RCMP in court over media restrictions at Fairy Creek logging blockade
The Canadian Association of Journalists, along with a group of news organizations and press freedom groups, says it plans to take the RCMP to court over its decision to restrict media coverage at the Fairy Creek blockades.
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Posted: May 26, 2021 3:47 PM PT | Last Updated: May 26
Protesters in September 2020 at the so-called River Camp blocking the Granite Main road at kilometre seven north of Port Renfrew, B.C. (Kieran Oudshoorn/CBC)
The Canadian Association of Journalists, along with a group of news organizations and press freedom groups, says it plans to take the RCMP to court over its decision to restrict media coverage at the Fairy Creek blockades.
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