C(anadian)B(log)C(ensorship)
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms fundamentally guarantees for all Canadians the right to freedom of expression. This right is entrenched and cannot be overridden under any circumstances, as the constitution is the final law in the country when it comes to human rights. It supersedes any trivial law that would seek to circumvent basic human rights in Canada.
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
- a) freedom of conscience and religion;
- b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
- c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
- d) freedom of association.
The highlighted text explicitly states that we have freedom of the press. Repeatedly; ad nauseum, it has been shown through recent court rulings that blogs, such as this one, are considered another form of media communication and can constitute another form of journalism. Blogs are protected under the second article, though some would say that blogs aren’t covered because they aren’t traditional main stream media (herein now referred to as MSM).
But, more and more, MSM outlets through their websites are beginning to include blogs where the editor can make their own bipartisan comments regarding certain stories. These blogs have not come under fire from prosecutors. Blogs owned by individual citizens have been targeted, whether it is because they have posted material about upcoming elections or writing about the election results of one time zone before the polls close in another. The latter, due to an amendment to the Canada Elections Act, with the addition of Section 329, it is illegal to blog about results before 10pmEST.
No person shall transmit the result or purported result of the vote in an electoral district to the public in another electoral district before the close of all of the polling stations in that other electoral district.
Yet preliminary results have been made available on MSM news stations, making it possible for people to see early counts before their polling stations close. People can email each other with the results (so, how many people am I limited to?)
One such MSM, CBC, with Peter Mansbridge at the helm on election night, was issuing early predictions for the outcome yet blogs were not permitted to post because we’re considered “public”. The very same station is now attempting to stifle its employees through Draconian policies that apparently were only thought to exist in countries like Iran and China, where bloggers are expected to register with the state if they want to have an “opinion”.
CBC is saying it still has to get the policy, or “guide document” approved by its Board, but still, if a Crown Corporation takes this dangerous route, other entities operating within Canada will use the precedent to issue the same kind of policies over their employees.
Further, the blog cannot advocate for a group or a cause, or express partisan political opinion. It should also avoid controversial subjects or contain material that could bring CBC/Radio-Canada into disrepute.
To start and maintain a blog of this kind, you need your supervisor’s approval.
The only thing that prevents this from being truly terrifying is the fact that CBC stated, verbatim on their website:
To be clear, this policy applies only to personal blogs where the author identifies themselves as a CBC employee. But if you’re writing a truly transparent, personal blog, sometimes you want to talk about what your job is. It’s part of who we are. But now, if you do that, you apparently fall within the scope of this document.
Before we continue, I will say this: many places of employment have you sign an agreement, which often requests that as a condition of your employment, you are not to talk to the media or disclose certain types of information related to the company. This can extend to blogs, which is why there is often this advice issued: keep your blog and workplace separate. Do not talk about it at work because what you may post could possibly come back to haunt you and even jeopardise your employment, especially if you have chosen to blog about your work.
There have been reported cases of people who use MySpace and FaceBook who find themselves without employment because they have posted material that turned off potential employers. A blog can easily do the same thing. Some things are better left separated.
Onward…
Blogs are not completely subject to one’s supervisor’s approval, unless you want to write about your work place. This is a tricky element. People can easily get caught between a rock and a hard place because one may want to write about partisan politics or other controversial topics.
What if in your profile you identify yourself as an employee of CBC, would you now require permission to keep your blog, even if you don’t write anything about your work or work place? Conversely, if you’re working on a story and even if you’ve declined to identify where you’re doing it for and only talk about the content of it, would you still be subject to the rules, even if no other clear identifiers exist? Just a couple of issues that come to mind in relation to this.
On this, I am personally torn because in principle, I fundamentally oppose this. This is an assault on the rights of Canadians who happen to work for a Crown Corporation. Why should they be forced to account for their opinions and beliefs, which they have the right to?
On the other hand, a place of employment has the right to ask that their employees don’t write about it, or at least refer to it directly in their blog. And, if one has signed such an agreement, they are obliged to honour their half of the agreement.
