¢ Canadian journalists report bullying and
harassment

¢ Thousands of dollars worth of
merchandise recovered by VPD

..and that's everything!

Canadian journalists report
bullying and harassment

» A decreasing sense of safety amongst the Canadian media

Matthew Fraser
Editor-in-Chief

 

n November 9g, Ipsos polling released

the results of an online survey of
Canadian journalists and other media
personnel. The survey was conducted
between September 27 and October 13
with over 1000 respondents. The answers
provided uncovered unsettling levels of
bullying experienced by the respondents.

The report as posted on the
Ipsos website shows that seven in ten
respondents were harassed online in
the preceding year. 34 percent of the
respondents said online harassment
occurred monthly or more often while 35
percent reported no instances of online
harassment. The remaining respondents
had been harassed once every two to three
months or slightly less often than that.

73 percent of respondents believed
that online harassment had increased in
the past two years but increases were also
reported in phone-based, physical and
in-person harassment. However, the nature
of the online harassment was very abrasive.
34 percent reported receiving sexualized
images or messages as well as rape/sexual
assault threats while 30 percent reported
receiving threats of a physical nature.

Nearly a quarter of respondents received
threats directed at their gender identity and
just under a fifth received threats aimed at
their ethnicity or nationality.

When asked to explain the factors
leading to or cited during these instances
of harassment, the journalists cited media
climate and accusations of being “fake
news’ (77 percent), attacks on their media
employer (72 percent), the angle used
in their stories (64 percent), alongside
feelings related to COVID-19 (55 percent).

These findings mirror a September
2019 analysis by the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ). The CPJ report focused
on 15 female or gender non-conforming
journalists in the US and Canada. The
overwhelming majority of respondents
reported that online harassment is the
biggest threat to journalists (go percent
of US respondents and 71 percent of
Canadian respondents). Sexual harassment
ranked high with 35.3 percent of Canadian
respondents listing it, while 49 percent of
Americans surveyed reported it. At that
time, 84 percent believed that journalism
as a profession had become less safe in the
past few years versus the four percent who
felt it was safer.

One salient example of this decrease
in perceived safety occurred in September

 

when the Peoples Party of Canada leader
Maxime Bernier tweeted the contact
information of three Candian journalists.
According to CBC, Bernier’s tweet was
followed by a 12-hour suspension from
Twitter. In the tweet, Bernier referred to the
three journalists as “idiots” and suggested
his followers “play dirty” with them.

Christy Somos, one of the journalists
targeted, would later release screenshots
of her email inbox following Bernier's

| (WHAT A WASTE
OF MY TIME.

 

Illustration by Anna Machuik

tweet. One such email expressed sexual
violence towards Somos and urged her

to kill herself. Ahmar Khan—another
journalist Bernier exposed—received
messages expressing both anti-semitic and
Islamophobic stances.

As both polarization and media
mistrust increase, the continued safety
of Canadian journalists may be further
jeopardized.

A rash of shoplifting events causes
worry to downtown retail personnel

» Thousands of dollars worth of merchandise recovered by VPD

. = Matthew Fraser

Editor-in-Chief

| eames Thursday, November 4 and Sunday, November 7, thirty-two people were
arrested in Vancouver due to shoplifting. Global News reports that the total
value of goods recovered approached $18,000.

Incidents included a weapon-wielding man stealing a box of donuts from a
convenience store and a woman, accompanied by a man, who together stole 47 pairs
of yoga pants worth nearly $6,000. The man was arrested once again on Monday
after allegedly stealing more than $700 in cosmetics from a Robson Street store;
he was also in breach of other court orders. 71 charges have been recommended

sole naI nem aN CRU ee

Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Addison expressed that shopliftings are often
underreported, but that police are successful in apprehending offenders when they
are alerted, as reported by Global News. Addison would also remark that the root

of these issues is often “chronic offenders” dealing with “complex social needs,
including addiction, poverty and mental illness.”

In February of this year, CTV News reported a 260 percent increase in
shoplifting cases that included weapons. The weapons used ranged from syringes to
knives, guns and bear spray. When the police became aware of these numbers they
launched “Project Arrow” to counter and deter ongoing shoplifting.

The month-long project resulted in the arrests of 130 people and 268 charges
recommended. 45 of those arrested were either wanted on outstanding warrants or
in breach of bail conditions at the time of their arrest. The project also recovered an
excess of $35,000 in stolen goods and 35 weapon seizures.

  

Illustration by Udeshi Seneviratne