If you're in Toronto next Tuesday night (Tue Jan 18) and you're looking for some interesting discussion, consider this:
Feeding the Hand that Bites You
What should Investigative Reporters do when the State comes calling?
Four Case Studies
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
7:30 p.m.
Jorgenson Hall – L-72
Ryerson University, Toronto
Featuring:
- Author Stevie Cameron
- Juliet O'Neill from the Ottawa Citizen
- Andrew McIntosh from the National Post
- Ken Peters from the Hamilton Spectator
- Moderator: Peter Desbarats, former Maclean Hunter Chair of Media Ethics, Ryerson Polytechnic University
Presented by Poking the State With a Stick Enterprises., in association with the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and the Ryerson School of Journalism.
There are no rule books and few reliable guides to assist investigative journalists who set out to probe the State – only to find it hitting back via the police, the courts and even CSIS, our homegrown spooks.
What do you do when the State comes calling?
The RCMP turned up at the offices of the National Post's Andrew McIntosh demanding his copy of an allegedly forged document that was a key twist in the murky Shawinigate scandal. His paper fought the search warrant and won a lower court ruling that says freedom of the press can sometimes trump police investigative demands.
The RCMP followed the Ottawa Citizen's Juliet O'Neill, taped her calls, pawed through her garbage – and and then raided her office, her home and her underwear drawer, all in an effort to learn the identity of a source they say may have broken national security laws by leaking her a document
outlining their case against Maher Arar.
A provincial court judge cited Hamilton Spectator reporter Ken Peters for contempt and threatened him with jail before finally fining him $32,600 for refusing to reveal the source of confidential city documents he used in an exposé of a troubled nursing home.
Freelancer, author and investigative reporter Stevie Cameron agreed to meet with RCMP investigators who were playing catch-up to her investigations of corrupt Canadian government officials. Nine years later an RCMP claim that she was a confidential informant became front page news in a national newspaper and came close to destroying her reputation and her career.
In a two hour forum, this quartet of seasoned investigative reporters will answer questions like these:
- Should an investigative reporter ever turn over the evidence of a crime he/she uncovers?
- Does an investigative reporter have any obligation to reexamine an offer to protect a source ?
- Do journalists in Canada need a general shield law that protects them from having to reveal confidential sources ?
- In a free and open society, what kind of police/investigative journalist relationship serves the public interest best?
Poking the State With a Stick Enterprises is a joint effort of Bill Dunphy, Kimberley Noble and Jan Wong, and has nothing to do with their respective employers.