Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Al Jazeera on press freedom in Canada

I don't really follow the goings on at the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression NGO. I blithely assume that as Canadians we are privileged to enjoy one of the free-est media environments on the planet.

Sure, it's obvious that the big media platforms are all singing out of the same hymnal, but we've long enjoyed a healthy sub-culture of counter-mainstream media, from The Tyee and Rabble on the left to Ezra Levant's rancid Rebel Media at the other end of the spectrum.

It therefore came as somewhat of a surprise to learn, via Al Jazeera of all things, that Kevin Metcalf, the communications officer for CJFE, was recently canned for having the temerity to call out our government for its failure to censure Israel for the murder of unarmed protesters in Gaza. Oddly enough, the think tank here at Falling Downs had just made the same observation.

Interesting to see Doug Saunders tweet referenced in the AJ story. Doug is Canada's Tom Friedman. As the most high-profile prognosticator at Canada's newspaper of record, Doug has a lot of schlep, and Doug was "disturbed" to see CJFE trying to influence our government's position on Israel.

I guess if you're gonna disturb Doug, your career is at risk.

Well Doug, our department of Global Affairs routinely expresses our outrage over perceived transgressions against fundamental human rights all over the world on a near daily basis.

Perhaps you could explain why criticism of Israel is out of bounds.





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