A CBC Unlocked journalist assigned to cover the press conference in Vancouver of Paul Martin and the president of Mexico, Vicente Fox, was refused access by the Prime Minister's security detachment on Friday.
No reason was given as to why CBCUnlocked was barred from the announcement of an agreement of co-operation between Mexico and Canada.
The presence of CBC Unlocked journalists had not been regarded as a security threat by other foreign dignitaries or federal politicians until Friday's refusal by the entourage of the Prime Minister of Canada...
Last week, the reporter interviewed the federal Minister for the Environment, Stéphane Dion, as he passed through British Columbia.
The same journalist for CBC Unlocked has also attended meetings during the last month with two foreign guests while they were under strong security: U.S. ambassador David Wilkins, as well as British writer Salman Rushdie, threatened by a death sentence issued in 1989 by the imam Khomeini, head of Iran at the time.
It's particularly remarkable that no other country's security services, particularly that of the U.S., has seemed the least bit concerned about having the regular CBC journalists covering events in Canada. Martin's office alone has taken a step which has no basis in any genuine security concern, and which has the effect of further silencing the workers already shut out of their normal work by Martin's historic lack of CBC funding.
If the Libs were truly the party most interested in defending the CBC, then the network would indeed be in serious trouble. Fortunately, there is one party that's actually interested in making sure that the CBC has enough funding to function. Hopefully Canadians who value the CBC, and even those who would rather not see legitimate media sources excluded from government events, will remember this when they go to the polls.
(Via My Blahg News.)
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