The excesses that Ottawa and Quebec have witnessed over the past few days have given rise to numerous acts of intimidation and aggression against media workers who covered these events. Demonstrators followed them, inveighed against them and tried to attack their physical integrity and their equipment, finding all the stratagems, subtle or violent, to prevent them from doing their job.
While these threats to our democracy seem more underhanded than calls for the overthrow of a government, they are in no way harmless to the photographers, journalists, cameramen and other information workers who have been victimized. Too many members of the CSN have suffered these attacks, too serious are the consequences caused by these traumas for us to stand idly by.
These acts of violence and intimidation against media personnel are part of a movement that tends to discredit, regardless of the motivation, the value of journalistic work.
Unfortunately, there are also multiple acts of cyber-harassment against these workers. An increasingly frequent phenomenon which, by dint of being documented, is proving to be more and more worrying.
At the request of the Fédération nationale des communications et de la culture (FNCC-CSN), a study was conducted by Stéphane Villeneuve, professor at the Faculty of Education at UQAM, on the extent of intimidation of journalists on digital platforms and social media. The data, collected from workers in the information industry, sends shivers down the spine:
Half of the respondents say they have been victims of cyberbullying;
Disturbing fact: 53.7% of respondents consider these events to be “inevitable”;
One in five people claim to have received threats against their physical integrity;
Nearly half of the people surveyed say they have to live with the stress generated and almost a third live with anger;
A quarter of them express a loss of confidence, the same proportion indicating being affected by a loss of productivity in their work.
The threats, intimidation and violence observed on social media against all media workers constitute a real danger for our society. They muzzle speech and muzzle the truth. For these reasons, both elected officials and public authorities, media companies and our trade unions have an obligation to ensure the safe conditions in which a free and independent press can operate. Have we really got there?
Even if we denounce the absurdity of the situation, we can only salute the press companies which now offer staff assigned to cover certain demonstrations training in “coverage in a hostile environment”, formerly reserved for correspondents criss-crossing Iraq. or Afghanistan. However, these companies still have a lot of work to do in order to put in place the necessary measures to counter cyberbullying and to help those who are victims of it.
Police forces have an obligation to ensure the safety of all persons who may be on the scene of a demonstration — including, of course, the media. Their vigilance must be increased in this regard, both on the street and in their responses to criminal acts committed on the Internet. We expect from them an appropriate treatment of the complaints that have been filed by our members following the regrettable events of the last few days.
Since their advent, social networks have always been able to expand by taking advantage of the legal vacuum in their place. Their owners, digital multinationals, are hardly worried by the public authorities, whether in terms of taxation or appropriate legislation.
Is it any wonder how lax they are with regard to misinformation and cyberbullying of information workers and the general public? Our political powers must regulate these ubiquitous foreign companies fiscally and legislatively, but also compel them to assume their responsibilities in defending the integrity of information workers.
Both in Quebec and in Ottawa, all political parties must send a clear signal: violence and intimidation against journalists and media personnel are unacceptable.
We have a collective obligation to ensure conditions conducive to their independence and freedom to work. In the street as on screen, respect for their work and their integrity must be everyone’s business.
* This letter is signed by 25 journalists’ unions:
Annick Charette, President of the National Federation of Communications and Culture (FNCC-CSN),
Michael Nguyen, President of the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec (FPJQ)
Pierre Tousignant, Union of Radio-Canada Workers (CSN)
Nathalie Pichette, NOOVO Employees Union (CSN)
Antoine Lacroix, Journal de Montréal Information Workers Union (CSN)
Andréanne Bédard, Syndicate of the editorial staff of the newspaper Le Devoir (CSN)
Janie Gosselin, Union of La Presse Information Workers (CSN)
Karine Tremblay, Union of La Tribune Employees (CSN)
Marie-Ève Martel, National Union of Employees of La Voix de l’Est (CSN)
Ian Bussières, Syndicate of the writing of the Sun (CSN)
Annie Lavoie, Union of Office Employees of the Sun (CSN)
Louis-Simon Gauthier, News Syndicate of Le Nouvelliste (CSN)
Simon Séguin-Bertrand, Union of Workers of the Le Droit Solidarity Cooperative (CSN)
Martin Roy, Union of Workers of L’Acadie Nouvelle (CSN)
André Arsenault, Union of CHAU-TV Employees (CSN)
Francis Paquin, Union of RDS employees – newsroom section (CSN)
Thierry DeNoncourt, Union of print media workers in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (CSN)
Simon Mayer, Union of CKVM Employees (CSN)
Mélanie Labrecque, Union of Workers of the Journal le Peuple Lotbinière (CSN)
Vincent Gaudreau, Union of workers of the Courrier de Portneuf newspaper (CSN)
Zoé Magalhaes, Montreal Information Union and Local Information Union (CSN)
Kate Tremblay, Union of CJPM-TV Employees (CSN)
Julien Renaud, Saguenay Advertisers Union (CSN)
Serge Tremblay, Union of Trium Media Employees (CSN)
Gabrielle Brassard-Lecours, Association of Independent Journalists of Quebec (CSN)
Jacques Parent, Union of CHNC New Carlisle Employees (CSN)
Joanie Gallant, Union of Employees of the Granby Radio Cooperative (CSN)