Podcast

Killjoys Ruin Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner ft. Rachel Gilmore (Podcast)

Metaphorically crashing the black tie affair

This week on The North State, I sat down with Rachel Gilmore, independent journalist at Bubblepop Media to explain how this year's Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner shows solidarity, but not the kind you'd expect. RSS feed here. Apple Podcasts link here

The North State 2025 Q&A

Next week, The North State will have a Q&A featuring questions from you! Eric Wickham, Ontario reporter for PressProgress and podcast producer extraordinaire will join to pose the questions to me. I won't see any of them! If you have a question you want to hear answered, submit them below before December 12th. Or click the link here.

Description

After a tumultuous year in Canadian federal politics, it seemed that the 2025 Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner was geared for virality before it even began. Then NDP interim leader Don Davies stole the show with his self-deprecating humour. Pierre Poilievre stunned with his other-deprecating humour. But these moments lead us to assume that the relationship between politicians and the press is, after all is said and done, a cordial affair. This assumption blankets the dinner and leads to some questionable outcomes. Rachel Gilmore, independent journalist at Bubblepop Media, joins Scott to discuss her experience with the event, how it shows legacy journalism's coziness with politicians and how a room full of journalists laughing at jokes made at the expense of marginalized people may, in fact, be bad.

Check out Bubble Pop with Rachel Gilmore

Follow Rachel on Bluesky.