A Montrealer will face charges of harassment and threats for abusive comments, including a reference to the drama of Charlie Hebdoaddressed to a journalist from The Press.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Marc Charlebois will appear on September 2 at the Montreal courthouse. Targeted by two counts, of having uttered threats and of having harassed journalist Coralie Laplante, the man is not detained pending his appearance.
“Using someone’s death for your propaganda again is downright disgusting!” Where are your ethics?? Sensationalist media cellar gang, you’re not nearly made low. It’s another Charlie hebdo you want?? Little bitch, it will fall on you believe me! (sic), Charlebois had written in an email sent to the journalist last September.
This comment followed the publication, by Coralie Laplante, of an article about the tragic death of a young unvaccinated father suffering from COVID-19 who, before dying, had begged his loved ones to receive the vaccine.
Joined Tuesday, Coralie Laplante, who now works for another media, said that this reference to the attack on journalists in Paris, which occurred in January 2015, was “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.
In the months and weeks preceding this email, she had received several others from Marc Charlebois, most of them containing remarks “with a sexual connotation”. “There are limits not to cross, either to threaten people with death”, she decided, adding that she was afraid to see Marc Charlebois “disembark at The Press “.
” This must stop ”
These threats are part of a major trend that began during the pandemic, that of online harassment of journalists, explains the president of the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec (FPJQ), Michaël Nguyen.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVES
Michaël Nguyen, President of the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec
“We regularly see accusations for threats against journalists, and we encourage them to file a complaint. It has to stop and people understand that threats, even on the internet, are still threats and are punishable by law, ”he insists.
Remarks supported by the columnist of The Press Patrick Lagacé, who has received his share of threatening emails during his career.
“What trolls don’t understand is that the internet is not a lawless zone. Since the start of the pandemic, I have filed a complaint a dozen times for violent and threatening messages. In my experience, the police take these complaints seriously, both at the SPVM and at the SQ,” he said.
When the police knock on trolls’ doors to arrest them, they find it less funny. But that’s how it is in the real world: actions and words have consequences.
Patrick Lagacé, columnist at The Press
As part of a survey conducted by the firm Ipsos on behalf of the FPJQ last fall among more than 1,000 professional journalists, 72% of them replied that they had suffered some form of harassment during the last 12 months.
What’s more, 84% of journalists who said they had been harassed online believe that this phenomenon has increased.
Majority of unreported cases
However, “most cases of harassment go unreported, either because journalists and media professionals doubt the seriousness of the harassment to which they are subjected or because they believe that nothing will be done to improve the situation. “, note the authors of the survey.
Just recently, the FPJQ met with several police forces who reiterated the importance for journalists to denounce such remarks.
It was really a reminder because we know that journalists are reluctant to file a complaint because they think it’s part of the job. Yes, there is criticism and it is acceptable to criticize, but threatening or injuring a person’s physical integrity is unacceptable.
Michaël Nguyen, president of the FPJQ
Multi-speed collaboration
If the collaboration between journalistic organizations and the police in this type of case is going well in Quebec, according to Michaël Nguyen, the situation is different in the rest of Canada.
On Monday, the Canadian Association of Journalists asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to reveal what it knew about a plot hatched by members of a far-right group to kill a Manitoba newspaper reporter The Free Press.
In September 2019, the RCMP sent a letter to journalist Ryan Thorpe informing him that they were aware of a threat to his life. The federal police there recommended that Mr. Thorpe stay alert, install an alarm system in his home and file a complaint with the police if he saw anything, but they would not did not see fit to do more.