Ezra Levant seeks Trudeau’s intervention after UN bars The Rebel from climate conference (original) (raw)
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Ezra Levant seeks Trudeau’s intervention after UN bars The Rebel from climate conference
Levant is turning to Justin Trudeau for help after the right wing news site was barred on the grounds that ‘advocacy media outlets do not qualify for accreditation’
Published Oct 17, 2016 • Last updated Oct 18, 2016 • 4 minute read
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Ezra Levant in 2010.
Canadian political commentator Ezra Levant is turning to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for help after a United Nations department barred his online news outlet from attending next month’s Conference of the Parties (COP 22) in Morocco.
Earlier this month, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat informed The Rebel, the right wing news and opinion platform published by Levant, it was rejecting the outlet’s application to send a producer and a reporter to COP22 on the grounds that “advocacy media outlets do not qualify for accreditation.”
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A statement currently on the UNFCCC website states the deadline for accreditation has passed, and that the maximum number of media passes have been issued.
Levant said he hadn’t asked for help from the Canadian government before because he was hoping the issue could be worked out quietly before the deadline. But he said he’s now seeking assistance from Trudeau and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna.
“I know Justin Trudeau doesn’t agree with The Rebel,” he said. “I know that. But he should stand up for Canadian values like freedom of the press at the UN.”
The Rebel had made arrangements for its Alberta bureau chief Sheila Gunn Reid and producer Meaghan MacSween to be in Marrakesh when the conference takes place November 7 to 18. Their applications for media accreditation to UNFCCC were denied and an application for a cameraman is yet to receive a response.
“The UN can’t stand having three skeptical journalists out of 3,000 journalists they’re accrediting — most of whom love the UN’s global warming agenda,” added Levant. “What a perfect symbol of the UN and the global warming debate: intolerant of dissent, arrogant and undemocratic. And sad proof that the journalists who will be attending Marrakech are all UN-approved.”
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In an October 6 letter requesting the UNFCCC reconsider its decision, a lawyer acting for The Rebel argues the publication is a bona fide news organization. “The Rebel brings to the Canadian community an intelligent and informed approach to everyday issues with a conservative focus,” said Stuart Robertson of O’Donnell, Robertson and Sanfilippo. “It has a staff of 25 persons … A member of the staff is accredited with the National Press Gallery at the Parliament of Canada.”
Robertson, who also works with Postmedia and the National Post, adds that The Rebel has an editorial policy which requires that subjects of its coverage be given an opportunity to provide a response in advance, and that it practices other editorial and legal protocols typical of a news organization. He also notes that Article 19 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes the right of all people to “receive and impart information and ideas through any media.”
The UNFCCC requires online media that apply for accreditation to have a street address and phone number, publish least 60 per cent original news content or commentary and analysis, operate a website that is updated at least three times a week, and provide two sample articles from the month prior to application. The Rebel meets all those qualifications, and there is no mention of “advocacy journalism” on the UNFCCC’s website.
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Nicholas Nuttall, a spokesman for the UNFCC, said the organization works to ensure that those who are granted accreditation are genuine media and not advocacy groups or NGOs operating under that banner.
“We had never heard of Rebel Media before but we looked at their website and, to be honest, they seemed to be in the bracket of being something of a one person band, espousing an individual’s view of the world, rather than being a serious media operation,” said Nuttall.
The international organization’s rejection of the media start up has also prompted major concerns about freedom of expression and freedom of the press from three prominent Canadian advocacy groups: PEN Canada, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) and the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ). All three have intervened and petitioned the UNFCCC on The Rebel’s behalf.
“(The Rebel) consistently publishes original news stories that often go otherwise untold,” wrote CAJ President Nick Taylor-Vaisey in an October 13 letter to the UNFCCC.
Taylor-Vaisey said that CAJ is particularly concerned that the outlet “was denied accreditation on the basis of publishing ‘advocacy journalism,’ a term the UNFCCC website fails to define (which raises a serious concern that the label is provided arbitrarily).”
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“The vagueness of the term ‘advocacy media’ makes its application highly discretionary in our view, and would encompass much of general news journalism,” wrote Grace Westcott, Executive Director of PEN Canada, in an October 5 letter to the UNFCCC. “Opinion pages, special reports, indeed advocacy journalism appears in many of the world’s great news sources, including The Guardian and The New York Times.”
Added Westcott: “We believe that the real or perceived biases of a news agency lie beyond the scope of the secretariat and are irrelevant to the question of whether a legitimately constituted news outlet is properly admitted to the Conference.”
“For a free press to function, governments and intergovernmental organizations must not deny access to events of public interest based on arbitrary or opaque determinations of a media outlet’s size, audience or political leanings,” said CJFE Executive Director Tom Henheffer in an October 14 letter to the UNFCCC.
I’m pleased that Canada’s leading journalism NGOs have supported our cause
Levant said he is grateful for the support. “I’m pleased that Canada’s leading journalism NGOs have supported our cause,” he said. “They know that if we can be blacklisted by the UN today, anyone can be blacklisted tomorrow.”
It’s not the first time outside support has rallied around the conservative news organization when it has been barred from press events. Earlier this year, Alberta’s NDP government banned The Rebel from attending media availabilities, but following public and professional uproar a spokesperson later admitted “it’s clear we made a mistake” and accreditation was restored.
With files from The Canadian Press
• Email: seancraig@postmedia.com | Twitter: sdbcraig
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