CBC President Catherine Tait said Canada is unsafe for the broadcaster's reporters, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. .“The public broadcaster’s role as a source of trusted news and supporter of original Canadian stories has never been more important than in today’s increasingly polarized society,” said Tait in the CBC’s latest annual report. .“Our news teams are experiencing the impact of this polarization first hand as they face rising threats to their safety both online and in the field.”.While the CBC faces adversity, Tait said it defends media freedom so its journalists can stay on stories that matter to people as they did during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine War, the 2021 Canadian election and the Freedom Convoy. She added it is “committed to supporting accurate and credible journalism as a cornerstone of our democracy.”.“We are committed to protecting the journalists, producers, cameramen and all the teams that do this work each and every day,” she said. .She provided no examples of threats targeting CBC reporters. It assigned a security guard to protect every reporter who left the newsroom to cover the Freedom Convoy in 2022. .Former CBC reporter Judy Trinh called this “a real threat.”.“It wasn’t just people protesting peacefully for or against vaccine mandates or mask mandates,” said Trinh. .“It was individuals who held extremist views and also had military training which made them even more dangerous.”.No protestor was charged with assaulting, threatening, or inconveniencing any CBC reporters. To cover the Freedom Convoy, Trinh said it needed one-to-one security guards. .The Parliamentary Press Gallery tried to petition former speaker of the House of Commons Anthony Rota to assign armed constables to accompany reporters covering the demonstration. .“Personally, I felt a little uncomfortable because there were all these guys roaming around the street,” said CBC reporter Elizabeth Thompson. .Corporate records published in 2022 showed CBC reporters' coverage of the Freedom Convoy put serious pressure on them. .READ MORE: Freedom Convoy coverage put “significant pressure” on CBC employees.“Mrs. Tait informed the board that recent events had put significant pressure on the corporation’s staff, notably the COVID-19 pandemic and Omicron variant, the truckers’ convoy in Ottawa and the Beijing Olympic Games,” said CBC. .“Directors inquired, among others, about the effects of online harassment of journalists.”
