{"id":16841,"date":"2018-11-29T13:20:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T21:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=16841"},"modified":"2018-11-29T13:20:04","modified_gmt":"2018-11-29T21:20:04","slug":"editorial-nexus-stands-with-the-gateway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2018\/11\/29\/editorial-nexus-stands-with-the-gateway\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: Nexus<\/i> stands with The Gateway<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alberta Conservative MP Kerry Diotte is taking legal action against The Gateway<\/em>, the University of Alberta\u2019s student newspaper, for alleged defamation; Diotte may seek up to $150,000 in damages, although the paper has retracted the statements in question. (To put that in perspective and as a reminder that student media operates on a shoestring, that\u2019s more than our total 2017-2018 budget.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The first of the articles in question was about the University of Alberta Students\u2019 Union president Reed Larsen tweeting a photo of himself and Diotte together; the article said this was concerning as Diotte has \u201ca history of making racist remarks.” The article pointed to a 2016 tweet from Diotte about a custom-made bingo card that he played along with during a House of Commons question period; it included the terms \u201cSyrians\u201d and \u201cFirst Nations.\u201d The article also talked about posts Diotte made with ex-Rebel Media contributor Faith Goldy; Goldy was fired after appearing on a podcast from neo-Nazi site The Daily Stormer.<\/p>\n

We take our jobs seriously, and we take student media seriously. We believe The Gateway <\/em>acted in a responsible and ethical manner by retracting the statements they did and believe that punishing a student newspaper financially after retractions have been made will scare student journalists from pursuing sensitive stories about politicians or running opinion pieces about them in the future.<\/p>\n

We also believe that The Gateway\u00a0<\/em>had every right to report on the details of Diotte\u2019s political history that they did, and after the retractions were made, the lawsuit appears to be nothing more than a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP), which forces media to not voice critical opinions because they can\u2019t afford to fight the charges. (Anti-SLAPP legislation exists in Ontario and Quebec, but not Alberta.)<\/p>\n

Nexus <\/em>stands in solidarity with our media colleagues at The Gateway\u00a0<\/em>and opposes those who try to stifle a free and critical media in Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alberta Conservative MP Kerry Diotte is taking legal action against The Gateway, the University of Alberta\u2019s student newspaper, for alleged defamation; Diotte may seek up to $150,000 in damages, although the paper has retracted the statements in question. (To put that in perspective and as a reminder that student media operates on a shoestring, that\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t