UNBSJ student newspaper sparks free speech debate
The decision to publish content from a white nationalist leader in a New Brunswick student newspaper has stirred a nationwide debate over free speech and journalism ethics.
The Baron, a student publication at the University of New Brunswick’s Saint John campus, ran an unedited question and answer style interview along with a letter from Michael Thurlow, the leader of the National Socialist Canadian Labour Revival Party in January.
The two articles included comments about Jews and false information about residential schools. They have been removed from the Baron’s website following the backlash that ensued.
Thurlow’s group claimed responsibility for white nationalist posters placed at the UNB Fredericton campus in mid-January.
The controversy at The Baron made national headlines, getting picked up by the CBC, CTV News, HuffPost, The Globe and Mail, BuzzFeed News. Proponents of the decision to published argued the matter was a question of upholding free speech, while those opposed said The Baron gave a platform to a hate group.
The Brunswickan, UNB Fredericton’s student newspaper, has reported extensively on the presence of white nationalism on campus. The paper’s editor, Emma McPhee, wrote a letter criticizing the decision to publish the material.
In an interview with STU Journalism, McPhee flagged the lack of context provided to readers along with the material. No editor’s note was included, and The Baron has done no prior reporting on the white nationalist posters that the group had placed in Fredericton.
McPhee said the role of journalists is not to uphold free speech.
“My view is that their are some types of speech that can actually hinder other people’s types of speech, and when it’s racist, it’s anti-semitic, it’s anti-indigenous and you’re spouting that, you’re hurting another person’s chance of freedom of expression,” she said.
A day after The Baron published the unedited material, McPhee and The Brunswickan editorial team received a letter defending the group from Sarah Villeneuve, a member of the National Socialist Canadian Labour Revival Party.
McPhee said the letter she decided not to publish was in clear violation of the Brunswickan’s editorial policy. But she didn’t need to review the document – it felt like common sense.
“It really felt like giving them a chance to spread their propaganda,” McPhee said. “Again, it would have been giving them a platform they wouldn’t have had before, and it was spreading views that were racist, they weren’t valid.”
Michael Camp is a former reporter with CBC News and a journalism professor at St. Thomas University. He teaches the course Media Ethics and the Law.
Camp said journalists try to keep the discussion of public views as wide as possible, but within limits. He said people often have the misconception that journalism is “value free”.
“I absolutely would not as a journalist publish any form of feedback that was blatantly racist or sexist,” Camp said.
He said The Baron made a bad decision, and should apologize to its readers for being taken advantage of by a hate group.
“It’s really appalling to me that a university publication, where you would expect some thought on this matter, would make this kind of decision.”
In the aftermath of the controversy, The Baron has fired its editor and appointed Business Manager Logan Johnson to serve as the publication’s interim head as it searches for new leadership.
Before her termination, Editor Anna DeLuca fervently defended her decision to publish under the grounds of freedom of speech, and spoke to several media organizations.
