Let’s start with some good news, since it is a rare and precious commodity these days: the Center of Excellence in Infectious Diseases at the Jewish General Hospital of Montreal was inaugurated this month. .
The traditional photo, where we are about to cut the red ribbon, shows a range of experts and generous donors. There is the Dr Karl Weiss, a microbiologist well known for his media interventions since the start of the pandemic. There is the DD Lucie Opatrny, Assistant Deputy Minister for Health.
There is Pierre Brosseau, secretary of the board of directors of the Hospital Foundation. This retired lawyer is very involved in the project. He is a philanthropist whose mission is to raise 7.5 million to make this center a reality.
“The pandemic has made people aware of the importance of a center of excellence, with the best researchers. I think that excellence should be encouraged, and that’s why I help, ”Pierre Brosseau explained to the web magazine. The Montrealer.
The bad news now. Well, not bad, but, let’s say, amazing. The same Pierre Brosseau, who thinks that excellence should be encouraged, is also executive chairman of the board of directors of RNC media, owner of the CHOI-FM station in Quebec.
PHOTO FROM A VIDEO AT THE JEWISH GENERAL HOSPITAL
Pierre Brosseau
Yes, Radio X. The most listened to station among 25-54 year olds in Quebec, which has been pouring into dangerous disinformation about the pandemic for almost two years now.
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“If I found that contradictory, I wouldn’t do it,” Pierre Brosseau slips over the phone. “In general, portraying Radio X as the devil incarnate is a bit easy. ”
He admits that he does not listen to the Quebec station “regularly”.
I listened to it in the days following the release of the inauguration photo on December 13. Radio X star host Jeff Fillion has repeatedly downplayed the severity of the virus.
PHOTO ARCHIVES THE SUN
Jeff Filion
December 14: the vaccine may allow us not to die, “but for the rest, it’s a disaster. It’s something they sold to us without really knowing what it was ”.
December 15, noting that there were only two to three daily deaths linked to COVID-19: “We salute the families who are living it, anyway. But people are dying of something. We’re not talking about two, three deaths of 15-year-olds… ”
December 16: “We have fun with fear, we have fun with panic. But this has consequences. ”
December 17: “We’re all going to pog it. Get that into your head. We just don’t know when. ”
Pierre Brosseau has every right to conduct his business as he sees fit. He can make the fight against infectious diseases the heart of his community involvement while leading the board of directors of a company that has Radio X in its bosom. That is done.
He has the right to wear both hats. But we have the right to note the contrast, enormous. As if he was sometimes wearing a top hat, sometimes a cap inside out …
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It has been going on for almost two years.
For almost two years, Radio X listeners have been told that the government is doing too much, that it is only the fat and the old who die, that healthy people are not sick …
It doesn’t stop. And it’s worse than ever since the arrival of the Omicron variant and the government’s latest turn of the screw, described on the airwaves as delusional.
Almost two years that the hosts invite notorious conspiracy to talk to their microphones. On April 30, for example, Samuel Grenier was able to promote the demonstration he was organizing the next day at the Olympic Stadium, transformed into a “slaughterhouse” rather than a vaccination center, according to him.
“Hoping to see teenagers, young people too,” said host Dominic Maurais, warmly thanking the conspirator. “We walk for children, we walk for life, we walk for freedom, and this is unique in the history of Quebec. Express yourself. ”
In March, it was Dan Marino, darling of Radio X. The owner of the Mega Fitness Gym was presented as a hero of the resistance. The station distributed free passes to its listeners.
There was a mega-outbreak: 10 deaths, 700 infections …
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“The animators are doubly vaccinated, everyone at the station is vaccinated”, emphasizes Pierre Brosseau.
That does not prevent them from uttering enormities …
“Radio X is an opinion radio, protests the boss of the CA. People should be happy that we can express more than one opinion or that everyone is not aligned with the same opinion in our society. ”
Of course, no one is against freedom of expression … except that in times of pandemic, this freedom to say anything is not without consequences.
In the United States, the mortality gap linked to COVID-19 is three times higher in the Republican counties, my colleague Yves Boisvert reported on Sunday.
It is not a coincidence. In those counties, people drink from Fox News and the rabid right-wing opinion stations. These hyperpopular media spread disinformation like a virus. And like a virus, they put lives at risk.
What is said on Fox News is no different from what is said on Radio X. The talk is the same. Disinformation too.
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“Me, I think that the behavior of the owners of the station is dangerous for public health”, said the former mayor of Quebec, Régis Labeaume, to Everybody talks about it, last April.
“It pays off, don’t be naive, these owners decided to have this kind of editorial content to make money. It’s just that it’s dangerous, they have become dangerous. They don’t care, they’re hiding somewhere in Montreal. And during that time, they are making cash. ”
PHOTO PATRICE LAROCHE, ARCHIVES THE SUN
The new mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, and his predecessor, Régis Labeaume
It had the merit of being clear.
Even clearer, since nothing speaks as clearly as money: in the fall of 2020, the City of Quebec withdrew its advertisements from Radio X, judging that the station was “promoting opposition to health measures”. About fifteen advertisers had followed suit.
Régis Labeaume left, the City of Quebec recently approached Radio X to obtain advertising purchase bids for a workforce recruitment campaign. “The campaign is not yet underway,” wrote a spokesperson.
But the return to regular programming will not be long in coming. And it will be a mistake.
On Sunday, the new mayor, Bruno Marchand, got angry with the bar owners who offered a last dance to their customers before closing. “It’s more important than making money,” he said. We play with people’s health. ”
That goes for Radio X, Mr. Mayor.