It’s official, Justin Trudeau’s official media approval board agree the Western Standard is in fact a “Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization (QCJO).”.You read that right, but let me explain that a little..The Liberal government’s $600 million big media bailout program has a handpicked board of journalists and publishers. That panel includes several openly Liberal supporters, and the publisher of the Winnipeg Free Press, who awarded his own paper a pile of taxpayers’ cash..This board is charged with determining which media are worthy of the federal media bailout money. The first step for looters trying to get in on the cash is to apply for official “Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization” status..If that sounds creepy, that’s because it is. The federal government — through the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) — gets to determine which media companies in Canada are real journalists, and which are not..I have always been clear the Western Standard will never accept media bailout bribes. That position has not changed. In fact, 93% of our surveyed members told us our refusal to take this cash is either “very important” or “somewhat important” to them. And it’s important to our team as well..But just for fun, I decided to submit an application to the federal government’s board that decides who are real journalists and who are not. Let me emphasize, I just did this for kicks..In the final phase of our application, the nice woman working for the CRA informed me everything looked to be in order and our application was headed for approval. Then she asked me if I would like any help with the next-step applications for the bailouts that would now be available to us..I politely declined..She asked why..I said that the Western Standard does not accept government media bailouts..She asked why I would go through this drawn-out process just to do nothing with our privileged new status..I said that I was just doing it to see what they would do..She was not amused..Fast-forward to today, and the federal government’s official letter confirming our new privileged status arrived in the mail. I called our director of operations, James Finkbeiner, into my office so we could read it together — and boy, it didn’t disappoint..Firstly, we got to relish a group of government-sanctioned journalists being forced to admit in an official government document the Western Standard — in all our self-righteous anti-bailout fury — is a “Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization.”.It’s not a feather in our cap that means anything to us, but we sure got a good chuckle out of knowing that’s the official position of the Government of Canada..But we know it must have been painful for them to write the words, so they had to get their shots in at us. We met every single one of their silly, government-imposed criterion that determines if we are legitimate media or not, but they had to point out why they don’t like us. Let me go through just a few of their missives..“However, the Board has serious concerns with the Organization’s [Western Standard’s] journalistic processes and principles, particular with regard to its coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.”.The government goes on to cite a number of stories produced by Western Standard reporters quoting people who are experts in virology and respected doctors facing termination for refusing mandatory vaccination. The government claimed these stories were “incorrect” or “misleading”. This, of course, is bollocks..Let’s go through a few of the official government condemnations point-by-point..The government media approval board expressed its disapproval of the Western Standard for quoting an Alberta doctor who rejects the “forcing of experimental mRNA [vaccines]” on the public, as “incorrect or misleading”.This is a valid opinion expressed by a doctor, clearly marked in quotation marks by our reporter, Melanie Risdon. In fact, the Government of Alberta — and every major government in Canada — forced vaccinations on the public through mandates, job terminations, and passports. The government’s view that these measures do not constitute “forcing” is a matter of opinion, and a bad one at that..The federal media approval board also took issue with the Western Standard quoting a University of Alberta public health professor who said his studies showed vaccinated Albertans were contracting the COVID-19 Delta variant as often as the unvaccinated. They claimed this was “incorrect or misleading”..Since this report was published on September 29, 2021, it has become established fact and is even accepted (however grudgingly) by the federal government. COVID-19 vaccination is still proven to lessen the severity of COVID-19, but the Delta and Omicron variants are just as transmissible through the vaccinated as through the unvaccinated. This is no longer a controversial statement, but the Western Standard quoted a doctor saying it before it was cool..After publishing the story above, the Government of Alberta belatedly responded to earlier requests for comment, claiming the public health professor’s study was “nonsense.” The federal media approval board claims this late response from the Government of Alberta meant the Western Standard should have retracted or re-written the entire story, instead of including the official’s response in the story. .In effect, the federal government told us that if the government says something is contrary to what anyone else says, we must always assume that the government is correct. This is a terrifyingly authoritarian statement..The federal media approval board also took issues with the Western Standard publishing stories that rely upon sources from other media outlets. This is good stuff, if you’re still with me..The most common complaint is the Western Standard publishes stories originating from Blacklock’s Reporter. For those not aware (including the federal government, whom Blocklock’s is suing for stealing their content, ironically) Blacklock’s is an independent wire service. In fact, they cited as their first example of a story they did not approve of, a report on November 15, 2021 headlined, ‘Newspaper chain took bailout cash, fired staff anyways.’.Media companies like the Western Standard pay an annual fee to Blacklock’s for the right to use their excellent investigative journalism in our stories..In fact, the federal government does this every single day, when the CBC runs news copy produced by Canadian Press, Associated Press, Reuters, and other mainstream wire services..It goes on and on from there. The federal media approval board had no choice but to approve our phony application. We clearly meet their phony criterion to be considered a “Canadian Qualified Journalism Organization,” but they were just not happy about it..For our part, this vainglorious approval form will go in my file cabinet and slowly collect dust. The Western Standard will not be applying for the bailout subsidies that we are now eligible for..Instead of spending my time filing out subsidy applications like a Bombardier bureaucrat, I’ll spend my time continuing to build the Western Standard into a market disrupter, aiming to become the new mainstream..Derek Fildebrandt is Publisher, President & CEO of Western Standard New Media Corp.
