In an open letter published in Le Devoir in late October, alleged sexual assault victim Alice Paquet wrote how she had “lost control of her story and its interpretation” since going public with her claims a few days before. “First I was presented as a confused girl, then as a former prostitute,” she wrote. “Everything was done to erode the strength and credibility of my word.”
Is gender a barrier in Canadian newsrooms? Since Canadian women began entering the workforce — education and birth control both played a part beginning in the 1960s — newsrooms were no longer the sole province of the cigarette-smoking, hard-drinking white male journalist.
But even though the number of women in media across the country has increased since then and one can boast gender parity at an organization like Radio Canada, women continue to struggle to become decision-makers in newsrooms as top editors or publishers.
Freedom from discrimination or freedom of expression — those are the choices arguably under threat that have led to tumult at the University of Toronto, and conversation in universities across the country.
The sometimes heated debates were spurred by a series of YouTube videos created by psychology professor Jordan Peterson, who critiqued the language used in Bill C-16, an amendment to the Canadian Human Rights Act that has recently passed its third and final reading in the House of Commons and which intends to legally define gender-based discrimination. In them, the U of T professor spoke about his refusal to use non-binary pronouns — words others than “he” and “she” — and criticized “political correctness.”
Wikileaks, the site that has become infamous for publishing confidential information about government wrongdoing, once did so through accredited publications. When Wikileaks began releasing secret U.S. documents and files in 2010, it relied on The Guardian, the New York Times, and Der Spiegel. The credibility of these outlets gave legitimacy to the website and its founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange.
The American government criticized the leaks for endangering the country’s national security, but the news media saw them as a powerful weapon of information. As it gained international fame, the whistleblower website started to publish independently.
Since spring 2016, activists have gathered at Standing Rock, North Dakota on Sioux sacred land to demonstrate their opposition against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Construction has already destroyed parts of their sacred lands and risks later poisoning their main water source.
They have been supported by a crowd better known for self promotion than activism. While mainstream media outlets, including CNN and The New York Times, came in late to cover the issue, The Intercept magazine has reported that at least seven journalists in total have been arrested while covering the clashes. Others have been stung by tear gas, pepper spray, or rubber bullets and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now had a warrant issued for her arrest.