Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much. Good afternoon to the committee. Thank you for inviting me to testify on behalf of CJFE. I am currently the president, although you should know that I'm not a journalist. I'm actually a lawyer. My practice includes representing, defending and supporting the

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Really, that was it. The other aspect of the criminal system that is problematic is the production and assistance orders that are routinely made by the RCMP and other police outlets. In summary, there's a lot for this committee to be concerned about, but also lots of progress t

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The free press has always been independent and will always find a way to fund its activities. There are other sources besides public money to support it. In the past, there has been support from political movements, from business leaders and from all areas. At this time, the rea

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I would repeat what I said. The question you're asking would be controversial among journalists. You will hear different views on both sides and you'll see that in the commentary on it right now. As a spokesman for the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, I have to say that

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The two suggestions I made in terms of routing the funding, if there is to be public funding, through subscribers or advertisers is a way to distance it. It takes the direct decision-making out of government hands. There's also the suggestion of setting up an expert panel. At th

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  What I'm saying is that when you talk about funding the free press, you're talking about funding the fact-finding process, the news gathering process, which is really only undertaken by the major media and very few new online media outlets. I think we all know who they are. Thos

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm comfortable with it because we do it in all kinds of other areas. We set up arm's-length expert committees to fund the arts. We set up arm's-length expert committees to fund a variety of activities—universities—that need some independence from government to function effective

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think the answer lies in our notions of what is the journalism that is worth support. I think a lot of what appears on social media is not in that category. Some is, but not always. Journalism, to be independent, has to be actively fact-gathering and actively questioning those

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm not an expert on private networks. I won't have a lot to say about that. It's kind of the opposite of journalism to be on a private network.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I would want to distinguish between what we can all objectively look at and verify is, in fact, fake news. It is knowingly reporting facts that are false, and is designed to disrupt and interfere with our democratic process, or other.... That, to me, is fake news. There is also

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think it's created opportunities that some media have yet to fully exploit. I think that's one of the reasons why they are investing in the Internet as a way of getting their word out. Of course, the challenge is how do you charge for that? So much of the Internet is free. If

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  One of the greatest initiatives that I've been involved in at CJFE—I became involved after its initiation—was the creation of the IFEX network. International Freedom of Expression Exchange is a group of, I think, now over 100 journalism organizations worldwide, which exchange inf

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I wish it was just one. You've listed many. Unfortunately, many governments around the world feel they can act with impunity and they wish to act against journalists because they are the first line of critique. Very shortly, after the free press in a given country is undermined a

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The ideal of one journalist organization that can cover news all around the world is very challenging to support today. Fewer and fewer media can rise to that level of activity. What we're seeing, and we see it in investigative journalism within Canada as well, is a lot more col

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  First of all, you have to realize where the problem comes from. Actually, social media or citizen journalism of all kinds is a fantastic new resource for reporters and journalists around the world to get a view of current events in distant places. These types of initiatives by g