A right-wing news outlet won’t be allowed into government press events in Alberta, because the governing NDP doesn’t consider it a “journalistic source,” Premier Rachel Notley’s office said Tuesday.
The Rebel, launched by divisive commentator Ezra Levant last year, is now planning to sue the province after its reporters were allegedly barred from three recent events — including a press conference with the premier and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this month.
In a letter to the premier’s office last week, The Rebel’s lawyer offered to forego legal action if the government agreed to allow its reporters access in the future. But the government refused to comply.
“Our client’s position remains that your client (The Rebel) and those who identify as being connected to (The Rebel) are not journalists and are not entitled to access media lock-ups or other such events,” reads a response from an Alberta Ministry of Justice lawyer, posted by The Rebel.
Premier Notley’s director of communications, Cheryl Oates, defended the decision Tuesday.
“Our rationale on this is very simple and it comes down to one thing: It’s the fact that Ezra Levant himself has testified under oath that he is not a reporter and so we don’t consider him a reporter,” she said — apparently referencing Levant’s 2014 testimony in Ontario Superior Court as a defendant in a libel case.
“I’m a commentator, I’m a pundit,” Levant said at trial. “I don’t think in my entire life I’ve ever called myself a reporter.”
“If you go to court and testify under oath that you are not a reporter, the government doesn’t consider you a reporter,” Oates said.
“Of course I’m a journalist. I have been for more than 20 years,” Levant told the Post via email. “Opinion journalists are journalists, and are naturally allowed to cover the government. Is Oates claiming otherwise?”
“It’s outrageous that a government would arrogate unto itself the power to choose who is and isn’t a journalist and would enforce that blacklist with armed sheriffs and Department of Justice lawyers.”
Earlier this month, The Rebel’s Alberta bureau chief, Sheila Gunn Reid, said security escorted her out of the legislature before a press conference with Notley and Prime Minister Trudeau.
Oates said that the legislature was closed to the public and only media was allowed in for the press conference.
“We didn’t allow bloggers or online news sources in,” she said. “They (The Rebel) weren’t singled out.”
The Rebel also says in late January, Gunn Reid was barred from conducting an interview in the “industry stakeholders” room and was asked to leave a common area. Notley’s office said no reporters were allowed in that room.
On the same day, the Rebel said another of its reporters was asked to leave a media lock-up — which gives journalists access to a government report so they can prepare stories ahead of the report’s scheduled release. But Oates said the reporter did not register for the lock-up, unlike other outlets.
Asked whether the reporter would have been permitted even if The Rebel had registered in advance, Oates said, “Likely not.”
“In the future … only journalists will be allowed into media events,” she said. “Rebel is run by Ezra Levant, and Ezra Levant does not consider himself a reporter and so we don’t consider him or his organization to be a journalistic source.”
The Rebel launched a petition to protest the ban and a crowd-funding campaign to support its lawsuit against the government.
“Unfortunately, we have to sue the government,” a post on the site reads. “We’re asking for a judge to declare that what Notley is doing is illegal – it violates our constitutional freedom of the press.”
More to come …
The Rebel’s letter to Notley’s office:
Alberta government’s response, provided by The Rebel: