Parliamentary Press Gallery threatens to expel Blacklock’s for violating code | Western Standard - Jonathan Bradley
November 6, 2022 "November Parliamentary Press Gallery President Guillaume St-Pierre is warning Blacklock’s Reporter he will end its 10-year membership over complaints of disrespectful treatment of subsidized competitors, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. 'The Gallery will consider taking appropriate measures,' said St-Pierre in a reprimand letter.
"St-Pierre would not release a mediator’s report about the ordeal. He said Blacklock’s disrespected 'the quiet and civil environment that members expect.' The Parliamentary Press Gallery does not have bylaws on quietness or civility. Its constitution restricts directing how members cover news or handling grievances between rivals.
"Threats of expulsion followed a 2021 motion where Blacklock’s sought full disclosure of subsidies paid to gallery members. Records reveal the gallery executive started making vexatious grievances, including a complaint managing editor Tom Korski listened to English-only audio feeds from the House of Commons.... The gallery did not disclose the text from the noise complaints or grant Korski an opportunity to speak."
Blacklock's Reporter is evicted from press gallery | Western Standard - Matthew Horwood:
December 5, 2022 - "Parliamentary Press Gallery executives accompanied by armed police on Friday evicted Blacklock’s. All questions were referred to a House of Commons employee. Blacklock’s said the eviction, first of its kind in the history of the National Press Building, was clear reprisal over its continued protests against media subsidies. Eviction followed Gallery president Guillaume St-Pierre’s threat to 'terminate' Blacklock’s membership.
"The complaints [see above] were made by three reporters: Emilie Bergeron and Michel Saba of Canadian Press and freelancer Hélène Buzzetti, a former Gallery president. Fourteen other reporters assigned desks in the National Press Building did not sign the complaint.... The Gallery refused to permit Blacklock’s to speak to the board of directors regarding reprisal complaints.... 'We will now see the Press Gallery in court,' Blacklock’s shareholders said in a statement. 'Our subsidized competitors met in secret, plotted punitive measures over petty grievances and served an eviction notice accompanied by armed police. Their conduct is outrageous.'
"Blacklock’s is the only Press Gallery member eligible for federal subsidies that neither solicits nor accepts government funding. The eviction came one day after Blacklock’s published Access To Information records detailing a private meeting between 35 unnamed publishers and the Canada Revenue Agency on distribution of $595 million in subsidies. Blacklock’s in 2020 also reported Canadian Press unsuccessfully petitioned the Commons finance committee for federal grants to cover 100 percent of revenues, the equivalent of $500,000 a week....
"Blacklock’s at a 2021 Press Gallery meeting sponsored a motion that 'all Gallery members disclose all applications for grants, rebates or subsidies to any branch of the Government of Canada' and publish the disclosures on its website. The motion was defeated.... 'The Press Gallery action is clearly reprisal,' wrote Blacklock’s shareholders. 'We will fight.'"
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