Government Decides Who is or is not Free Press
Cut
and paste story from Joe Warmington, Toronto Sun
Permission, approval,
permits and staff accompanying reporters is the future for media covering the
news at the airport, even as Transport Canada strongly disagrees with the
iron-fisted approach.
We’re not talking about
an airport in North Korea, China, Afghanistan or Cuba.
These rules are being
brought into Toronto Pearson International Airport. ArriveCan may be gone this
weekend but a new rule being installed Monday will fundamentally change how
media cover the airport news.
“As you’re likely aware,
we recently opened Toronto Pearson terminals back up after having restrictions
in place for more than two years,” said a message to media sent out by the
Greater Toronto Airports Authority this week. “We’re excited to have more
people around, but after consulting with several GTAA officials, we have
decided to put in place a more formal media access policy than the email
process we had in the past.”
Here it comes.
“Starting Monday, October
3, a request form located on our website will need to be
filled out 24 hours before sending crews to the airport, whether reporting from
inside a terminal or outside on the curbs, lands, and roadways that make up
Toronto Pearson. It’s an automated form, so it shouldn’t take much more effort
than our email process from before. But it will give us the info we need to
approve or deny requests.”
Approve or deny requests
to cover the news? It means only who airport personnel deem acceptable are
allowed to report the news. If they don’t like a journalist’s views or
something they have reported, they will have the power to not admit them.
For example, I have often
gone out to the airport during the pandemic to cover delayed flights, passenger
backups, COVID-19 restrictions and testing, passengers with COVID coming into
the country, or those being quarantined. But as of Monday, the airport can
decide, saying yes or no as to whether or not I can write, photograph and
comment on these types of things or even be on the premises!
We reached out to
Transport Canada, which strongly disapproves of the GTAA’s incoming new rule.
“Freedom of the press is
at the core of our democracy and is a commitment for our Government,” a
spokesperson from Transport Canada told the Sun.
“Pearson Airport’s new media policy is unacceptable, and our office will be
reaching out directly to the Airport to express this concern.”
However, the GTAA is the
operator of Pearson airport and is not part of the federal government.
“Once you fill the form
out, we’ll review it (as quickly as possible) and decide whether to approve the
application, effectively turning the form into a permit,” said the GTAA letter.
“We’ll also have a GTAA employee available to accompany crews while on-site.”
A chaperone on a reporter
is a first for a free and democratic Canada. They also have put up the crushing
rule of having to decide 24 hours before, which makes it particularly difficult
when you decide at the last minute to go out to cover something that has just
happened. There is nothing wrong with the courtesy of alerting the airport you
are planning to be on site, but there should never be licensing or permitting
to cover news.
Pearson insists that is
not happening with the new guidelines.
“Hi Joe, of course, you
and other media will always be welcome at the airport,” said GTAA manager,
communications and media relations, Ryan White. “This has nothing to do with
access. This policy is just about knowing who is in the building at what time
for safety issues and to ensure that our passenger services representatives are
informed.”
But until the GTAA
grounds their new media rules, it will be as believable as when transport
authorities blamed massive airport gridlock on rusty, out-of-practice
travellers.
If Canadians accept the
state having the power of who gets to report, they will only get what
government decides is permissible to be reported. That starts Monday at
Pearson!
Fits in nicely with the Chinese Communist Police headquarters located in Toronto
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