The conservative news site, which hasn’t been shy in its criticism of Notley and her government, was sent a letter late last week from the Justice Department defending the ban.
Notley’s spokeswoman and communications director Cheryl Oates provided a written statement on Tuesday about the decision.
“The government’s position is that if you have testified under oath that you are not a journalist, then we don’t consider you a journalist,” she said.
Oates’s comment refers to testimony given by Levant in a libel suit in 2014. He told the court that he was a commentator and a pundit, not a reporter.
From: Rachel Notley’s NDP bans The Rebel from Alberta government news conferences – Edmonton – CBC News
I’m hardly sympathetic. If you want to play the game where you’re a journalist only when it’s convenient to you, it’s fair for the state to take your disavowal of journalist status seriously.Report
I don’t know:
Journalist: “one whose work is to write or edit public journals or newspapers”
Pundit: “an expert”
Commentator: “a person who discusses news, sports events, weather, or the like, as on television or radio.”
Seems to me that there’s a lot of overlap between the various words. Well, except for “pundit” because we all know “journalists” don’t know squat. But what does he expect the opposition to do? Play nice?Report
Not surprising that they would do this to a conservative.Report