J-Topics
On December 5 Canadian Journalists for Free Expression will honour Mae Azango of Liberia, Rami Jarrah of Syria, Canadian media lawyer Dan Henry, and Enquête, Radio-Canada's investigative television program, with awards for their courageous reporting and commitment to freedom of expression, often in the face of threats.
On October 19, Jill Winzoski lost her job as a reporter with the Selkirk Record, a rural Manitoba weekly newspaper, apparently because of pressure from a local member of parliament. In early November a colleague and friend, Jim Mosher, lost his job at another local weekly, The Enterprise, apparently for publicly defending her.
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) will present its 2012 Tara Singh Hayer Memorial Award to Enquête, Radio-Canada’s investigative television program, for taking great risks to expose major cases of corruption in Québec. The award will be presented at the 15th Annual CJFE Gala, to be held December 5, 2012, at the Fairmont Royal York hotel in Toronto.
When Canada stands before the U.N. at its Universal Periodic Review next year, there may be some areas where our country's record is found wanting. As Grant Buckler reports, five Canadian organizations have announced a submission to the review that raises concerns about Canada's record on free expression.
Bill 29, which amended Newfoundland and Labrador’s Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act this spring, came in for particular criticism in Newspapers Canada’s annual Freedom of Information Audit. The federal government again got poor grades on its handling of access to information requests. And the report, released Sept. 24, also found some good news.
When the Royal Canadian Mounted Police invited reporters to an event in St. John’s honouring female police officers, it included an unusual request. Journalists who want to interview the officer of the year were asked to submit their questions for review in advance.
The federal Office of the Information Commissioner is planning a review of Canada’s 30-year-old Access to Information Act. It is time. As Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) noted in its 2011/2012 Review of Free Expression in Canada earlier this year, the act has not been updated since it was created in 1983, In 2011, Canada ranked 40th out of 89 countries in the Global Right to Information Rating.
The Canadian Journalists for Free Expression is looking for volunteers to monitor free expression news in six regions across Canada.
Evoking memories of the G20 protests in Toronto in 2010, concerns are being raised about police treatment of journalists during student protests in Montreal. Reporters have been arrested, told to stop filming and in some cases roughed up by police, according to reports.
Newfoundland’s 11 opposition members of the House of Assembly are set to filibuster legislation that would make large categories of government documents secret.
Freedom of Expression
The CJFE is a Canadian non-governmental organization supported by Canadian journalists and advocates of free expression. The purpose of the organization is to defend the rights of journalists and contribute to the development of media freedom throughout the world. This space will be dedicated to news and other info about freedom of expression issues in Canada and abroad.
 | Support J-Source | ||
 | Best online-only article or series | ||
J-Source and ProjetJ are projects of The Canadian Journalism Foundation in collaboration with leading schools and organizations Editor-in-chief, J-Source: | |||
Peter Worthington: 10 facts about the journalist who wrote his own obituary
Peter Worthington would have known that there is a venerable tradition of journalists writing...
Opinion: Why all journalists should study public relations
I like this. It's very important to see the closeness of public relations and journalism....
Do journalists really need to take a course to learn that practitioners of PR are working for...