CAJ welcomes court ruling on media freedom and government secrecy

Subject: CAJ welcomes court ruling on media freedom and government secrecy


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CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTS

Transmitted by Canada NewsWire on : November 15, 2004 19:03



CAJ welcomes court ruling on media freedom and government secrecy


OTTAWA, Nov. 15 /CNW/ - The Canadian Association of Journalists
applauds an Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruling that a secret
warrant used in a police raid on the office and home of an Ottawa
Citizen reporter violated constitutionally guaranteed press freedom
rights.

In what is being described as a precedent-setting ruling, Judge Lynn
Ratushny found that in executing a search warrant under the Security
of Information Act for a Jan. 21 raid on the home and office of
Citizen reporter Juliet O'Neill, the RCMP was wrongly granted
judicial permission to keep the reasons for the warrant secret.

Judge Ratushny overturned the secrecy seal, ordered some details of
the warrant be released to the Citizen's lawyers, and ordered
belongings seized in the raid returned to Ms. O'Neill.

In her decision, the judge specifically singled out the limitation
of Charter rights including "the fundamental right of freedom of
expression and freedom of the press... in both an unauthorized and
unjustifiable way."

The CAJ has been an outspoken critic of the RCMP's actions and the
secrecy surrounding them, as well as the ongoing practice of police
seizure of information gathered by journalists.

"This judgement takes some first steps toward strengthening
protections for the public's right to know," said CAJ president Paul
Schneidereit. "Judge Ratushny's ruling has recognized that
journalists are the main conduit through which citizens are informed
about matters of vital importance to a functioning democracy, and
that infringing upon media freedoms turns journalists into agents of
the state and harms their ability to serve the public."

The CAJ has documented a steady string of instances in which
journalists have been legally threatened or forced to hand over
material and reveal their sources. The RCMP raids in the O'Neill case
follow a pattern of police interference that treats journalists as
agents of the state.

In September, 2002, RCMP attempted to seize leaked documents sent to
a National Post reporter about a controversial loan to a Quebec
hotelier in former Prime Minister Jean Chretien's riding.

The following month, Toronto police officers seized video tapes from
CTV News containing a jailhouse interview with a man charged in an
investment scam.

In July, 2001, Edmonton police seized photographs and video tapes
from several local media outlets related to the Canada Day riots. In
March, 2001, police in Halifax seized audio tapes from a Canadian
Press newsroom containing an interview with a convicted killer. In
January, 2001, police seized interview tapes recorded by a television
journalist in Edmonton. The previous month, Kingston Whig-Standard
reporter Rob Tripp was forced to hand over his notes and testify in
the preliminary hearing of a murder trial.

"Hopefully this ruling will make police forces across the country
give pause before walking into newsrooms and reporters' homes to
seize journalistic materials," said Schneidereit. "The chill those
actions create is bad for journalism and bad for the public interest.
It needs to stop."

The Canadian Association of Journalists is a professional
organization with more than 1,400 members across Canada. The CAJ's
primary roles are to provide public interest advocacy and high
quality professional development for its members.




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/For further information: Paul Schneidereit, president: (902)
426-1124; Robert Cribb, past-president: (416) 869-4411; John Dickins,
Executive Director: (613) 526-8061, Cell: (613) 290-2903/

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