Mainstream media backs Liberals’ plans to censor the internet when it comes to hurtful media comments, says The Blacklock reporter.

“This is not about limiting democratic expression,” Paul Deegan, CEO of News Media Canada. written in a brief to the Department of Canadian Heritage.

“It’s about protecting her and her most precious guardians, the journalists. And it’s about ensuring that all publishers, including internet intermediaries, are held accountable for harmful content. “

Cabinet has said it will reintroduce Bill C-36, which lapsed in the last Parliament. C-36 would ban legal online content “likely to promote the detestation or defamation of an individual or group” under the threat of a $ 70,000 fine or house arrest.

News Media Canada supported the censorship bill.

“As a business, the news publishing industry remains threatened by unregulated and unchecked social media and other online communication service providers,” wrote Deegan, former lobbyist for CN Rail.

Deegan said the rescue press faced “harassment,” “defamation” and “threats,” but provided no examples.

“Our journalists, including women and blacks, natives and people of color, and our clients face prejudice online,” he wrote.

The media lobby cited a 2020 UNESCO study that described the harassment of journalists in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Nigeria. Canada was not mentioned. The results were based on 714 questionnaires.

“We recommend that the Government of Canada explicitly recognize online threats against journalists directly in law,” Deegan wrote.

“Journalists should have an ‘exceptional remedy’ against online threats. News Media Canada submits that online platforms should act on reports of harassment from news editors and journalists within 24 hours.

News Media Canada in 2019 succeeded in lobbying Parliament for changes to the Income Tax Act which created a $ 595 million press rescue fund.

Firm-approved media are eligible for pay discounts of up to $ 13,750 per newsroom employee and 15% tax credits for subscribers.

The Cabinet initially rejected the press bailout in 2017.

“Our approach will not be to bail out industrial models that are no longer viable,” declared the Minister of Heritage at the time, Mélanie Joly.

However, the bailout was approved after News Media Canada hired lobbyist Isabel Metcalfe, a campaign fundraiser for Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna.

Freedom of Information records showed Metcalfe held 79 separate meetings on behalf of the editors, including closed-door conferences with political advisers in the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Western Standard does not accept any government bailouts.