Boycott misses mark
Justin Trudeau’s boycott of Sun Media was misguided.
Last week, the Liberal Party leader announced that he’d be boycotting the media conglomerate over an “offensive” Sun News Network segment hosted by Ezra Levant, in which Levant called Trudeau’s father – former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau — “promiscuous” and a “slut” and insulted Trudeau’s mother similarly.
In light of the nature of Levant’s comments, Trudeau’s decision to boycott is understandable to a certain extent. However, Trudeau needs to differentiate between Levant the person and Sun Media the conglomerate.
Sun Media owns 36 daily newspapers, six free dailies and nearly 200 other publications across the country. The journalists who work at the Kingston Whig-Standard aren’t the same journalists who work at the Edmonton Sun — nor are they Ezra Levant.
As such, it’s unfair to punish thousands of journalists based on the actions of one person, simply because they’re owned by the same company. The boycott interferes with the public’s right to transparency and open information, as hundreds of publications now no longer have access to the Liberal leader.
In some ways, this boycott appears to be a tactical political move on Trudeau’s part. Sun Media tends to attract a conservative audience who favour views against Trudeau. By icing out all of Sun Media and refusing interviews with any of their reporters, Trudeau is ensuring that these news sources are limited in how much they can write on him.
Levant crossed a line and should be condemned for his inappropriate actions. He provided no evidence to support many of his claims, making them potentially slanderous.
Overall, if such inappropriate and purposeless content is allowed to be broadcast, then Sun News Network needs a higher editorial standard in place.
