This is a media group called Press Forward. While it’s nice to see independent media covering events in Canada, even if we may ideologically disagree, this is not the case here. While presenting itself as a group of indy/alt media outlets, this is anything but.
Press Forward has a list of criteria for membership in their group. Most raise no eyebrows, and are in fact very reasonable. However, #8 catches attention for all the wrong reasons.
8. Members must have a publicly posted diversity, equity and inclusion policy in place and be willing to report publicly on the composition of their organization. If you do not have a policy or self-reporting process yet, Press Forward can provide a template and assistance.
While other requirements such as transparency, ethics policies, privacy policies, and trying to generate revenue are sensible, this last one is not. This isn’t a call to make decisions purely on merit, and to ignore traits like race, gender, age, or nationality. On the contrary, it’s a call to make decisions BASED ON those traits.
The site does go on to provide a template for their diversity, equity and inclusion policy. And wow, it’s quite a doozy.
SAMPLE DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION POLICY
We recognize that systemic discrimination based on age, class, cultural and/or linguistic background, ability, economic status, gender, race, religion and sexual orientation have contributed to an environment where the voices of many people in Canada aren’t uplifted. We are committed to reporting on stories that reflect the country’s diversity, as well as hiring and promoting journalists from a variety of underrepresented backgrounds.
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Diversity: PUBLICATION will integrate equity principles into its decision-making processes. Equity and diversity will inform short-, mid- and long-term editorial planning, source cultivation, editing practices, art direction, etc. Our reporting sheds light on systemic barriers and historic challenges and will reference these issues when contextualizing breaking news.
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Inclusiveness: As an employer, PUBLICATION will foster a welcoming, barrier-free environment, and build and nurture relationships with writers, editors, photographers and illustrators, as well as other consultants, from a variety of underrepresented groups.
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Leadership: PUBLICATION’s leadership will strive to ensure it reflects the full diversity of Canada. This includes senior leadership, staff, freelancers, interns and volunteers, as well as featured sources, guests, speakers, etc.
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Accountability: PUBLICATION will collect on the demographic makeup of the organization and will make a concerted effort to sensitively survey employees, freelancers and audiences on equity and diversity issues. PUBLICATION will then relay this information to the public via regular equity reports.
This is actually the template provided. To be part of Press Forward, it’s necessary to have a policy such as this, which comes across as anti-white. When they talk about factoring diversity into the hiring practices and stories covered, it means non white.
When they say organizations should reflect the full diversity of Canada, it means whites should be replaced. It also means that men, especially white men, are a thing of the past.
Truly independent media outlets don’t need to report on their racial or gender makeup. They don’t need to report the sexual habits of their members. Yet, Press Forward does. Strange, in a country that has all kinds of laws to enshrine equal rights, apparently minorities are oppressed.
This isn’t the hallmark of a collective of indy authors. This comes across as someone, like a Government, trying to implement social policy in how media outlets are composed, and what is written.
Now, about the groups themselves: what are the media outlets that are part of this organization? Where are they located?
- Canada’s National Observer (Observer Media Group)
- La Converse
- The Coast Halifax Weekly
- Committee Trawler (Halifax)
- The Discourse
- The Independent (Newfoundland & Labrador)
- The Local (Toronto)
- The Narwhal
- New Canadian Media
- Oakville News
- The Sprawl (Calgary)
- Sun Peaks Independent News
- The Tyee
- Village Media
- West End Phoenix
And who is running Press Forward?
- Emma Gilchrist, Chair, Editor-in-Chief, The Narwhal
- Stacy Lee Kong, Vice-Chair, Deputy Editor, West End Phoenix
- Jeremy Klaszus, Editor in Chief, The Sprawl
- Brent Jolly, National News Media Council
- Lela Savić, La Converse, Discourse Media
- Karyn Pugliese, Assistant Professor, Ryerson University
- Rachel Pulfer, Executive Director, Journalists For Human Rights
Narwhal is Registered Journalism Organization with the Canada Revenue Agency. At the time of writing this, there are only 3, although over a hundred have applied. This means that Narwhal is entitled to special tax breaks most companies wouldn’t be able to get.
A quick search shows a number of recent grants by the Federal Government. Remember, Governments typically don’t hand out money to groups which are a potential threat. Would they give money to media outlets that will hold their feet to the fire?
| MEDIA OUTLET | DATE | AMOUNT |
|---|---|---|
| Discourse Media | Jul. 17, 2018 | $1,520 |
| Discourse Media | Apr. 1, 2020 | $161,795 |
| Journalists for Human Rights | Jun. 1, 2019 | $250,691 |
| Journalists for Human Rights | Oct. 11, 2019 | $11,764,838 |
| Journalists for Human Rights | Jul. 14, 2020 | $1,479,856 |
| New Canadian Media | Oct. 1, 2018 | $42,555 |
| New Canadian Media | May 1, 2019 | $66,517 |
| New Canadian Media | Oct. 1, 2019 | $66,800 |
| New Canadian Media | Apr. 1, 2020 | $9,471 |
| New Canadian Media | Apr. 1, 2020 | $69,300 |
| New Canadian Media | May 1, 2020 | $31,900 |
| New Canadian Media | Aug. 1, 2020 | $40,000 |
| Observer Media Group | Apr. 1, 2020 | $253,594 |
| Observer Media Group | Apr. 1, 2021 | $100,000 |
| Sprawl Media Ltd. | Apr. 1, 2020 | $30,258 |
| Sun Peaks Independent News Inc. | Jun. 5, 2020 | $3,504 |
| Sun Peaks Independent News Inc. | Apr. 1, 2020 | $63,452 |
| The Tyee | Apr. 1, 2020 | $360,469 |
| Village Media Inc. | Jul. 25, 2016 | $88,000 |
| Village Media Inc. | May 1, 2018 | $156,000 |
| Village Media Inc. | May 18, 2018 | $140,000 |
| Village Media Inc. | Sep. 2, 2019 | $190,000 |
| Village Media Inc. | Sep. 2, 2019 | $260,000 |
| West End Phoenix | Apr. 1, 2020 | $140,134 |
Canadians object to their money being spent on things they consider wasteful. Fair enough. But here, money is being given to organizations that put diversity above talent and results. Journalists are so restricted that they can get their work subsidized by the public.
This isn’t all of them of course. Still, several have received substantial amounts of money from Ottawa to promote their work. Press Forward is supported (financed in part) by the Trottier Family Foundation Foundation. More on them soon enough.
The Misinformation Project provides Canadian journalists and journalism students with digital investigation and media literacy training in online misinformation. The program is a continuation of JHR’s Combating Misinformation Project, which was funded in part by the Government of Canada in 2020. During this six month program, sixteen professional journalists will hold online training sessions for Canadian news organizations. These sessions cover the information landscape, responsible reporting and digital verification with the goal of helping participants integrate the skills into their daily reporting.
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The Misinformation Project is funded by the McConnell Foundation, the Trottier Family Foundation and the Rossy Family Foundation.
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JHR partnered with First Draft News, a global leader in misinformation research and training, to implement the project.
JHR, Journalists for Human Rights, is running the “Misinformation Project“, which was partially funded by the Government of Canada. It gets additional funding from the Trottier Family Foundation, the McConnell Foundation, and the Rossy Family Foundation. Misinformation, of course, are things that contradict the official narrative.
What does this have to do with Press Forward? Rachel Pulfer, Executive Director, Journalists For Human Rights, is on their Board of Directors.
In this earlier piece, it was laid out how various groups trying to “fight misinformation” were actually run by political operatives, and they were getting public money. JHR is led by Peter Donolo, longtime Liberal Party operative. He has been a handler for Jean Chretien, Michael Ignatieff and Justin Trudeau. This corruption crosses all parties.
JHR also runs another group called “Disinfowatch“, in conjunction with the Koch-funded MacDonald-Laurier Institute for Public Policy.
Of course, this isn’t all the money that gets spent on this. Here are some more grants courtesy of the taxpayers. And you think it was going towards roads and schools.
In March 2020, Ryerson University announced that it would be conducting research into “misinformation”, how it spreads, and how to contain it. This would be funded by the Canadian Government. Strangely, this would be run out of the business school, and not the journalism school.
Karyn S. Pugliese, the Director at Press Forward, has been a reporter on CBC and CTV, and is a former reporter at Parliament Hill. An interesting addition to this group.
The Narwhal, which gets special tax breaks because of its status with the Canada Revenue Agency, is also a member of the organization Covering Climate Now. There are many partners in the group, including mainstream names.
CCNow collaborates with journalists and newsrooms to produce more informed and urgent climate stories, to make climate a part of every beat in the newsroom — from politics and weather to business and culture — and to drive a public conversation that creates an engaged public. Mindful of the media’s responsibility to inform the public and hold power to account, we advise newsrooms, share best practices, and provide reporting resources that help journalists ground their coverage in science while producing stories that resonate with audiences.
By their own admission, CCNow wants to insert the climate change issue into everything, and use that to shift the culture. This isn’t media, it’s indoctrination. Just a thought, but this partnership may be why the CRA is so willing to grant the RJO status to Narwhal. One of their Directors is Alex Himelfarb, a former Privy Council Clerk.
Another Director is a member of the National News Media Council. They describe themselves as a “self-regulatory ethics body for the news media industry in Canada”. Now there’s nothing wrong with having different views, but this seems pretty inconsistent for Press Forward, which claims to be pushing independent journalism.
The Sprawl, based in Alberta, seems to be about the closest thing to independent. It is willing to take submissions from a broad group of people. However, it bleats the “diversity” drum to such a degree that everything else seems secondary. A quick look through recent articles show an incredibly leftwing streak.
This is hardly a complete rundown, however, it’s difficult to consider this group “independent” in any way, considering some of the people running it.
Instead of calling for stories based on talent, hard work, or creativity, all of this takes a backseat to “diversity and inclusion”. It seems done to deliberately drive up sentiments about being persecuted or taken advantage of. And we all know what the goal is.
It also has to be said, none of these outlets ask critical questions about the “pandemic” that has been going on for the last 18 months or so. Instead, the official narratives get promoted in their work. Perhaps that’s another reason for the subsidies.
(1) https://pressforward.ca/
(2) https://pressforward.ca/about-us/
(3) https://archive.is/YpLNi
(4) https://archive.is/YQYFh
(5) https://pressforward.ca/sample-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-policy/
(6) https://pressforward.ca/team/
(7) https://pressforward.ca/membership/
(8) https://pressforward.ca/membership-criteria-2/
(9) https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/charities-giving/other-organizations-that-issue-donation-receipts-qualified-donees/other-qualified-donees-listings/list-registered-journalism-organizations.html
(10) https://search.open.canada.ca/en/gc/
(11) https://jhr.ca/jhrs-misinformation-project
(12) https://archive.is/9Ed4r
(13) https://canucklaw.ca/media-subsidies-to-counter-online-misinformation-groups-led-by-political-operatives/
(14) https://canucklaw.ca/taxpayer-grants-to-fight-misinformation-in-media-including-more-pandemic-bucks/
(15) https://www.ryerson.ca/news-events/news/2020/03/ryersons-social-media-lab-tackles-misinformation-amid-pandemic/
(16) https://thenarwhal.ca/about-us/
() https://coveringclimatenow.org/about/
(17) https://coveringclimatenow.org/partners/partner-list/
(18) https://thenarwhal.ca/alex-himelfarb
(19) https://www.mediacouncil.ca/
(20) https://www.sprawlalberta.com/policies
