Rightist Attacks on the Press are in Full Swing
Lawsuits, lawfare and institutional attacks threaten journalism
At time of writing, The Narwhal and photojournalist Amber Bracken are fighting a lawsuit in court against the RCMP. Bracken was arrested by the mounties and held for three days while she covered the police raids at a Wet'suwet'en camp in 2021. I covered the current situation in an episode of The Catch's podcast The North State, for those curious. But since the time of that episode, the rhetoric and attacks on critical journalism in this country have escalated rapidly.
The Maple, an independent outlet which I have written for in the past, has been the target of lawfare attacks by Shurat HaDin (SH). This Israeli organization self-describes as an entity that bankrupts "terror organizations one lawsuit at a time." SH has alsoi received rhetorical support from Israeli politicians and the country's intelligence service, the Mossad. SH announced they've issued "urgent legal notices" to payment companies like Stripe, Apple Pay and major credit card networks demanding that they stop providing service to the news outlet. They have also written to "the Toronto Police chief, the Ontario Provincial Police commissioner and Ontario’s attorney general calling for a criminal investigation into The Maple’s journalism." They're looking for a complete shutdown of the site.
One of the main reasons that The Maple has earned the ire of Zionist entities is the Find IDF Soldiers database, created by Maple Opinion Editor Davide Mastracci. The database collects public data to discover which Canadians have joined the Israeli military, which is enacting the Palestinian Genocide. This project has been the subject of much vitriol since its publication.
Meanwhile, PressProgress, the Toronto Star and CBC are all preparing to defend themselves in a lawsuit filed by former Alberta UCP candidate Caylan Ford. Ford alleges that PressProgress and individual journalists affiliated with the outlet took comments she made out of context. The reporting primarily concerns leaked messages between Ford and another conservative politician "making controversial statements on topics about race, immigration and white-supremacist terrorism." Ford filed the $7 million defamation lawsuit against these entities as well as the NDP in 2020.
Alberta, unlike other provinces such as Ontario, BC and Quebec, does not have legislation meant to curb spurious attacks meant to silence critics. Anti-SLAPP lawsuits, as they are typically called, allow the case to be reviewed by a judge for intent before proceeding to trial. Those that are deemed to be in the service of silencing critics are dismissed. Since this lawsuit was filed in Alberta, there is no such process. So there is a considerable amount of money needed to defend themselves in court. Smaller outlets, such as PressProgress, do not have resources like the public broadcaster.
Scott Martin
Further still, Alberta's UCP is escalating attacks on the press. The province's Ministry of Education issued a statement that they will blacklist CityNews from reporting access until a formal apology is issued to Minister of Education and Child Care Demetrios Nicolaides for reporting done on a trip he made up Mount Kilimanjaro. The supposed issue is that the reporter and CityNews politicized "a deeply personal act of remembrance."
As the CityNews article reported, Nicolaides had taken the trip to honour his sister, tragically murdered by her estranged partner on Jan. 16, 2024. The article went on to note that there was pushback on social media platforms about Nicolaide's choice to raise an Alberta flag at the summit, rather than a Canadian flag.
"Despite the purpose of the trip being clearly explained," the notice reads. "Your reporter showed a clear disregard for context, sensitivity, and professional responsibility in pursuing this line of question."
The ministry's senior press secretary had been quoted in the original story that the story was politicizing the image. Apparently, a sitting Alberta minister travelling internationally and publicly holding the flag of Alberta, rather than his country, is apolitical. This event took place while there is currently a petition for a referendum on the separation of Alberta from Canada.
This is far from the beginning for the right-wing attacking Canadian journalist outlets. As federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has shown time and time again; Attacking the press is now a tactic that's not only acceptable, but one that gets results. We are now in a period where the future of journalism is being attacked through our political and legal systems.
In the case of Ford's lawsuit, she claims that she is fighting "cancel culture." Regardless of what validity you place on such a claim, an inevitable byproduct of the lawsuit will be placing significant financial strain on smaller outlets that cannot bear the burden as well as established newsrooms. Meanwhile, with the boycotting of legacy media by the Alberta government in the case of CityNews, we see how critical coverage can be stifled by politicians. Of course, there is no concrete evidence that there will be consequences arising from SH's legal notices against payment services that The Maple utilizes. Additionally, The Maple has already been investigated by the RCMP for their reporting, with a conclusion including the words "non-criminal." In this context, it remains dubious whether further consequences will be pursued by Ontario provincial or municipal law enforcement.
But all this is cold comfort for an industry being hollowed out from the back-end by neoliberal market practices. If we do not form a cohesive, defensive journalism bloc in this country, the whittling away and legal processes meant to bog down reporting will escalate even further. This is Defcon 1, and Canadians need to be made aware of the playbook now being deployed.
