Media executives call for protection of journalists in Gaza

The Netanyahu government and Israeli Defense Forces are facing a flood of criticism over the death of an unprecedented number of journalists who were reporting from the war zone of Gaza. In an open letter released on February 29, executives from more than 30 leading news organizations from around the world voiced their support for […]

Police harassment undermines press freedom

Journalists across the country have been threatened, arrested, removed, or denied access by the police while trying to do their job of reporting the news. Journalist Brandi Morin was the latest high-profile case. Morin was arrested on January 10 while conducting interviews at a homeless encampment in Edmonton. The obstruction charges brought were dropped on […]

Support for Local Journalism due to end

Hundreds of journalists across the country may lose their jobs at the end of March with the expiry of a federal program that supports local media. The Trudeau government created the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) in 2019 to help smaller community news outlets keep their doors open. Funding is due to end on March 31, […]

Journalists Abandoning ATI

The latest annual report on the Access to Information Act indicates that journalists are abandoning this vital transparency tool in record numbers. Treasury Board’s 2022-2023 statistics on use of the Act, released Dec. 20, shows that fewer than 10 per cent of general requests filed that year came from members of the media. That’s less […]

Transparency, trust and AI in newsrooms

In an industry already facing challenges over public trust, the rise of artificial intelligence is adding yet another threat to press freedom. Erosion of public trust creates conditions in which governments and others in authority can more easily restrict media freedom. Last month, the chief executive of The Arena Group which owns Sports Illustrated, was […]

Pressing Vancouver police for accountability

World Press Freedom Canada continues to be concerned about oversight surrounding the Vancouver Police Department’s treatment of journalists during an operation to dismantle a camp for homeless people. In December, we penned a letter to the Vancouver Police Board, expressing our serious concerns with its quick dismissal of a press freedom complaint against the Vancouver […]

Journalists under threat

Since Reporters Without Borders published their annual World Press Freedom Index on World Press Freedom Day May 3, the sorry state of press freedom and the ability of journalists to do their jobs safely has deteriorated even further. The report in May showed the journalism environment in 128 countries was problematic or dangerous for media […]

Google to pay $100 million annually to Canadian news organizations

The standoff between the Liberal government and Facebook is set to ratchet up in December when Bill C-18, the Online News Act, comes into force. Meta’s Facebook has already blocked access to news providers from its site, and Google was threatening to do the same. However on Nov. 30, the Liberal government announced a deal […]

Editorial independence needed, even in times of war

The Hamas-Israel war has brought new conflict between the Conservative Party of Canada politicians and CBC news. The Conservatives have vowed to defund CBC television and its new operations if elected, and have been frequent critics of its coverage of Canadian politics and world events. At a parliamentary committee meeting in October, Conservative MPs took […]