(LifeSiteNews) – Records show that the Canadian Association of Journalists breached its own ethics guidelines while reporting on a 2020 pipeline protest.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) refused to correct misleading statements that accused police responding to the 2020 pipeline protests of illegal conduct.
The CAJ accused police of unlawfully arresting two freelance journalists reporting for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the environmental advocacy site The Narwhal who were covering the 2020 pipeline protest. After the accusation, the Department of Public Safety issued a memo stating that the arrests made by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) were carried out lawfully in accordance with a court order, and the coverage by the media was selective and left out key facts.
“On November 25, a journalist released a video showing the arrests,” said the department’s memo titled Coastal GasLink Pipeline Protests. “However, the video does not show what occurred preceding RCMP members’ breach of the structures.”
“RCMP officers read the injunction at each structure and made several calls over the course of more than an hour for occupants to exit the structure,” staff wrote. “The only response from inside the structures were derogatory in nature and refusals. It was not until RCMP officers entered the structures and arrested the individuals that they identified themselves as journalists.”
According to Blacklock’s, the CAJ would not “address the memo” and has instead decided to stand by their reporting
“The words published reflect the consensus of the board,” said Brent Jolly, president of the association.
“All statements issued by the Canadian Association of Journalists come on behalf of the association and aren’t reflective of one person’s opinion,” Jolly added. “As the president, I am the spokesperson for the association.”
The lack of response to the memo seems to be in contradiction with the association’s own ethics guidelines, which claims that members “verify all facts,” “distinguish between assertions and fact,” as well as “independently corroborate facts.”
Additional guidelines insist that the association does not “allow our own biases to impede fair and accurate reporting” while stating that “when we make a mistake” it is corrected “promptly and in a transparent manner.”
The association, which reports to have up to 1,000 members, describes itself as the “national voice of Canadian journalists.”