Subject Of Unflattering News Story Gets Journalist Arrested For Criminal Harassment
from the cops-just-doing-their-job-because-someone-else-was-just-doing-his-job dept
Oh, good. Someone's trying to make journalism as dangerous as security research. A Canadian journalist who did something journalists do all the time is now facing the possibility of criminal charges for doing his job.
A Radio-Canada investigation, with a team including reporter Antoine Trépanier, revealed that the executive director of the Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter in Gatineau, Que., falsely portrayed herself as a lawyer and practised law without a licence.
Yvonne Dubé told Radio-Canada she knew nothing about the case and insisted she never represented anyone as a lawyer.
Trépanier had talked to Dubé over the phone Monday, eventually offering a formal interview request for the story before it was published earlier this week.
After initially accepting the interview, she declined it at the last moment. She instead spoke by phone.
The next day, Trépanier sent an email reiterating the offer for an interview.
Subsequently, Dubé contacted Gatineau police and made a complaint of criminal harassment against Trépanier.
Trépanier was arrested Tuesday evening and he signed a promise to appear in court.
Another chilling sentence follows.
The Crown has not yet decided if charges will proceed.
It seems like there should be nothing to decide. Obviously Dubé had zero interest in commenting on a story about her alleged impersonation of a licensed lawyer. Fine, but this scenario absolutely reeks of vindictive bullshit from a person who couldn't stop a negative story from being posted and felt she should spread the misery around.
Needless to say, Trépanier's employer, Radio-Canada, is deeply concerned with this turn of events. The director of its French services says he's never seen anything like this in three decades of journalism. The police likely haven't either, but they're sticking to their guns.
Gatineau police held a media briefing early Friday afternoon, where the force's director, Mario Harel, said "we have the obligation to listen to the victims ... regardless if [the accused] is a journalist, a politician, a star or an ordinary citizen."
All well and good, but requests for interviews or comments are not anywhere in the neighborhood of "threats" that should make someone "fear for their safety." It's just part of the business. Sure, it's often an unpleasant part for those who'd rather not comment on articles uncovering their misconduct, but it's not even close to criminal harassment.
If a journalist wants comments and a person doesn't feel like giving them, "no comment" is a great way to terminate these communications. A phone call and an email are pretty mild compared to hordes of journalists camping out on your street or chasing you around from place to place with a microphone in their hands. I can see how some journalists might cross the line into harassment on occasion, but the underlying facts don't suggest Trépanier did anything other than repeat his request once, using another form of communication.
Even if charges are dropped, light bulbs are going off over heads of subjects of unflattering new stories. Why not subject your perceived tormentor to a little ride and possible rap? That an arrest was the immediate result of this complaint is enough to make journalists have second thoughts about contacting story subjects for comments or interviews. When subjects start complaining they weren't contacted before publication, they have Yvonne Dubé to thank for the new normal.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: antoine trepanier, arrested, canada, harassment, interview request, journalism, yvonne dube
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Charges officially dropped
The DPCP already decided to drop the charges:http://www.dpcp.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/communiques/2018/CMP_04311_20180322_Arrestation_journa liste_RC_VF.pdf
They also rarely publish their decisions to not press charges:
http://www.dpcp.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/pdf/Lignes_directrices.pdf
This is certainly an exceptional circumstance.
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Charges officially dropped
http://www.dpcp.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/communiques/2018/CMP_04311_20180322_Arrestation_journa liste_RC_VF.pdf
They also rarely publish their decisions to not press charges:
http://www.dpcp.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/pdf/Lignes_directrices.pdf
This is certainly an exceptional circumstance.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
No charges will be forthcoming if it was something the police were just looking for an excuse to do anyway.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Charges officially dropped
A quick follow up:
https://twitter.com/PoliceGatineau/status/976921767871643648
They've apologised (kind of redundant, being Canada, but still) and pointed out
according to the National Observer: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/03/22/news/police-chief-admits-officer-made-mistake- arresting-radio-canada-reporter-who
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
*Alleged* victim
What does that mean when there's no evidence the person was a victim of any illegal activity? What does that have to do with arresting anyone?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Charges officially dropped
"Trépanier had the right to file an ethics complaint against the police over how it handled the case".
'Yeah, we might have screwed this up, and if you want to file a complaint about it you are welcome to do so.'
Talk about not one but two somethings you would never, or almost never see a police department say in the US. An admission that they screwed up, and pointing out that the accused would be justified to file a complaint if they feel the need.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
the life you save may be your own .... sheeple
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Report Her
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: *Alleged* victim
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Report Her
The person filing the complaint is actually not the problem here, it is the police officer(s) that decided that this was something even close to criminal harassment.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Report Her
The person filing the complaint might not legally be at fault, but trying to get a reporter arrested because they emailed you asking for comment is still the wrong thing to do.
That said, there's a derth of details as to what exactly was communicated, both between the parties and to the police. How can you blame the police before knowing what they were told?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
If Dubé lied to the police to get them moving…
If they don't do it on their own then Trépanier and CBC
Radio-Canada can press the same charge if they want.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
"feelings" crimes, feminization of society, & its weaponization
This is why ethnic jokes have now become hate crimes. Anti-stalking laws, originally created with good intentions, have been weaponized and are now routinely used against journalists and protesters, despite their activities ostensibly protected under the first amendment. It's not surprising that Canada, without constitutional guarantees on free speech, has been easier than the US for far-left "social justice" activists to bend to their will. But the concept of crime being defined by feelings rather than concrete actions is not just a Left versus Right issue. Police who shoot and kill innocent unarmed people only have to say the magic words, "I feared for my life."
In an increasingly paranoid society being ruled by concepts of "safe spaces" and "micro-aggesssions" and the perception of perpetual victimhood, it should not surprise us that people who commit real crimes (or at least have something to hide) are going to shoot these poison arrows against the people who seek to expose them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: "feelings" crimes, feminization of society, & its weaponization
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: "feelings" crimes, feminization of society, & its weaponization
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: "feelings" crimes, feminization of society, & its weaponization
Make him fly, mummy!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
If the journalist were female, and the subject of the article male, i doubt this would have happened.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
bigotry
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: "feelings" crimes, feminization of society, & its weaponization
It's not surprising that Canada, without constitutional guarantees on free speech, has been easier than the US for far-left "social justice" activists to bend to their will.
Have a gander at the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which is entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. We have a right called: Freedom of Expression. That is supposed to encompass more than speech alone. Having said that, SJW folks are a problem in both countries.
[ link to this | view in thread ]