Quebecor will not appeal the judgment of the Superior Court of Quebec which, in February, ruled that the Quebec Press Council can handle complaints concerning all media, including those of Quebecor.
The Quebec Press Council (CPQ) made the announcement in a statement released Thursday.
“The public will therefore be able to continue to rely on the Press Council as a means of lodging a complaint if they believe that a Quebecor media outlet – or any other Quebec news media outlet – has not complied with the ethical standards of journalism such as than described in the Guide de déontologie du Conseil de presse du Québec”, underlines the Council.
In a decision handed down on February 17, the court dismissed the motion for injunction and damages brought in 2018 by Groupe TVA and MédiaQMI, which notably publishes the Montreal Journal and the Quebec newspaper.
These two Quebecor entities wanted the CPQ to stop handling public complaints concerning them, since they had withdrawn from the organization. They also claimed several hundred thousand dollars for damage to their reputation due to unfavorable decisions.
Judge Bernard Jolin concluded that the “Council enjoys the freedom of expression protected by the Charter” and that “the decisions rendered at the end of its complaints process are the result of the exercise of this freedom”.
He also argued that “nothing compels MédiaQMI and TVA to join” this organization. Their right to freedom of association and that of not associating are not violated by the complaint handling mechanism, the judge continued.
Quebecor did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Canadian Press.
Groupe TVA and MédiaQMI walked out of the Press Council in 2008 and 2010, respectively. To justify their departure, the Quebecor newspapers said they were dissatisfied with the complaint handling process, criticizing in particular the weakness of the reasons for the decisions and their arbitrary nature.
Despite their absence, the CPQ nevertheless continued to study the complaints against them. Two of them received reprimands from the Press Council.
These decisions concerning the Journal de Montréal were at the heart of Quebecor’s legal action. In his eyes, they damaged the reputation of the media.
The Quebec Press Council has been working for 50 years now. It represents a self-regulatory mechanism for the written and electronic press, but it has no judicial, regulatory, legislative or coercive powers. It acts as a court of honor and therefore imposes no sanction other than moral.
The CPQ also recently announced a “major shift”, by deciding to seek external donors to support its mission. It was previously mainly funded by membership fees and a government grant.
The latter, from the Ministry of Culture and Communications, has increased from $250,000 to $350,000 per year, the CPQ announced in its last annual report.
Funding — which remains a challenge for the CPQ, “particularly in the context where the future offers very few certainties and guarantees to the media as to the future profitability of their operations and therefore their ability to support the CPQ”, writes President Pierre-Paul Noreau — will make it possible to deal with the growing volume of complaints. The Council received 470 complaints from the public in 2022 and opened 230 files.
The CPQ also has two new members in 2022: Groupe Contex (Deals) and The Canadian Press.