Pierre Fitzgibbon: frontal attacks on the media

Pierre Fitzgibbon perhaps sees a political advantage in turning against The newspaper and other media, believes an expert, warning the minister in passing that there is a danger in attacking an essential mechanism of democracy.

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By repeatedly qualifying The Journal of Montreal of “low-end publication” and taking to task the journalists who work there, Pierre Fitzgibbon stands on the narrow line between the defense of his reputation and the attack on a pillar of democracy, believes political scientist Philippe Dubois.

“He has the right to defend his actions, and it can pay off politically to oppose certain critics,” he explains. But in doing so, he ventures into delicate territory, and the boomerang could come back to him in the face. »

It is that the media play a “role of control and criticism of the government”. “In a sense, it’s fair game for politicians to respond to journalists to try to get the upper hand and impose their message,” continues Mr. Dubois.

A line not to cross

Except that there is a line not to cross between defending oneself against criticism from a counter-power and attacking its legitimacy, especially in a context where trust in elected officials and journalists is fragile. “To discredit the media is to attack one of the essential gears of democracy”, he underlines.

Was this line crossed by Pierre Fitzgibbon? Is there a danger of a Donald Trump slide? The political scientist preferred not to answer. “Being an adviser to the minister, I would remind him that he has the upper hand. He is a super minister in a government with a comfortable tenure, he is not a devil in holy water. He must therefore be careful not to overreact. »

Louis Simard, who is a professor of political science at the University of Ottawa, shares this observation. “If we don’t have enough respect for the media […]we shoot ourselves in the foot in 2023, ”he explained in an interview.

In the long run, repeated attacks on a newspaper could be perceived as arrogance, to the future benefit of other parties.

“We see that it can give ammunition to his opponents for later, especially since we have already criticized this government for being arrogant,” explains Philippe Dubois.

Unheard of since Duplessis

There are few cases of elected officials who take certain media to task in the recent history of Quebec, notes historian Pierre Berthelot.

We have to go back to the 1950s and the conflictual relationship between Maurice Duplessis and The dutyto find a roughly analogous situation.

“In the bedroom, Duplessis openly denounced The dutywhich he called ‘rag’ and ‘bitchy paper’”, he says.

A journalist had even been expelled from the Prime Minister’s office.

“On entering Duplessis’ office, journalist Guy Lamarche introduces himself as a representative of the Duty and reaches out to the prime minister. Duplessis withdraws his hand and asks his bodyguard to take out “the guy from the Duty” , relates the historian.

FITZGIBBON RAISES THE TONE

” It does not concern you. It’s private. We will wait for the commissioner’s report. And we will send you the codes to understand what is a conflict of interest […] It does not concern you. Are you clear? It does not concern you. »

Reply to a journalist from Quebec newspaper in a press scrum on February 23, 2023, in reaction to the Ethics Commissioner’s fifth investigation report, which cleared him.

“Stop rummaging through the trash cans. Are you clear? Are you clear?! […] Are you clear?! Or?… You, you… you are unpleasant. You keep going through people’s trash cans there. Be constructive… Another question. »

Reply to a journalist from Montreal Journal, who questioned him on June 7, 2022 about a dinner with lobbyist Luc Laperrière

“I don’t know why you’re still on this. There was no issue there. Polycor is a very nice transaction. Your articles have been negative for the company. »

Reply to a journalist from Duty May 10, 2022, regarding the Polycor file

“LOW-END TABLOID”

Three times rather than once since December 2022, Minister Fitzgibbon called The newspaper of low-end tabloid, when reporting was not his business.

BULLYING ON FACEBOOK

In November 2022, the Minister announced that he will make a bequest of $5 million to HEC Montréal. Rather than answer questions from a journalist from the Log about this donation that he himself had revealed, the minister publishes these questions on his Facebook page, implying that they are aggressive and in “bad faith”. The Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec is indignant at this maneuver, which it associates with intimidation.

– With the collaboration of Marie-Christine Trottier and Nicolas Brasseur