Press gallery can vet journalists, review says
Speaker’s office can help, but critics worry about government influence
A review into who should be allowed to ask questions at Alberta legislature news conferences says reporters should be the ones to make the call.
Heather Boyd, retired Western Canada bureau chief for The Canadian Press, cautions that a reporter’s political slant or point of view shouldn’t be considered in determining access to media events. The issue is becoming more prevalent as online outlets and social media blur distinctions between reporters and the public they serve.
“Nobody can define a journalist anymore,” Boyd said after her report was released Friday. “I suspect, over time, the rules are going to have to change.”
The provincial government said it will accept all of Boyd’s recommendations.
But Ezra Levant, whose conservative online publication The Rebel sparked the review, called Boyd’s major recommendations unacceptable and unconstitutional.
“This is a big-government solution in search of a problem that does not exist,” he said.
Questions arose last month after the NDP government refused to admit a reporter from The Rebel to a joint news conference with Premier Rachel Notley and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the legislature.
Boyd recommends that decisions about accreditation should be made by the legislature’s press gallery, which consists of reporters who regularly cover politics.
“This protects government from the perception of bias,” Boyd wrote in her report.
“This is not a perfect solution, and several journalists have made it clear they do not believe they should be subject in any way to control by their peers, but it appears to be the best compromise.”
The arrangement is common in other provincial legislatures as well as in the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa. It has also been the practice in the Alberta press gallery.
Boyd acknowledges in her report that the Alberta press gallery told her it doesn’t have the resources to vet and police gallery applicants.
She recommends resources be provided by the independent Office of the Speaker. Such assistance is provided in Ottawa and in Quebec’s National Assembly.
Boyd said it would be up to the gallery to ensure it maintained control.
“If you’ve got a strong press gallery and it’s interested in preserving its integrity, it would work with the Speaker to do that. It works well in Ottawa and Quebec City.”
Levant said such a relationship would amount to allowing the government a voice in defining its watchdogs.
“The pretence of arm’s length is abandoned,” he said. “If someone tried to vet my qualifications, I would sue them before the day was out.”
Levant said media layoffs have so reduced the gallery there’s no reason to deny anyone access to any news event at the legislature.
“If a cartel of journalists keeps out another journalist, even if they’ve been delegated that power by the government, that does not make it acceptable.”
Darcy Henton, a reporter with the Calgary Herald and president of the Alberta press gallery, said he and his colleagues didn’t ask for the responsibility but are now talking with the Speaker’s office to see how accreditation can be managed.
“We’re for open journalism. We’re against exclusion. But you can’t open the doors and let everybody show up at every press conference. It would not be manageable.”
Boyd did note that press galleries have significantly different policies about who they accredit. Some provinces are fairly open.
In Ottawa, applicants must have journalism as their “principal occupation” and be employed by news organizations that adhere to “generally accepted journalistic principles and practices.”
Alberta has had a similar practice, Henton said.
“Bona fide journalists should be able to cover the news at the legislature. We believe that a bona fide journalist is a professional journalist that makes a living at that profession, not a part-time blogger or a person who writes for a special interest group.”
Press galleries, said Boyd, know their business is changing. Many have accepted online journalists.
“(The galleries) are flexible. They know that the world is evolving and they’re going to have to change.”
This is a biggovernment solution in search of a problem that does not exist.