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The Media’s Right to Offend
by Scott Gilbreath ~ October 14th, 2008
The 6th annual Joseph Howe Symposium will be held on Saturday, 1 November, at University of King’s College, Halifax. The topic is The Media’s Right to Offend: Exploring Legal and Ethical Limits on Free Speech.
Margaret Wente of the Globe and Mail will deliver the keynote speech. Seven expert panelists are set for the discussion, including the formidable Ezra Levant.
I am so going to be there. I might even wear my Free Mark Steyn t-shirt.
The Joseph Howe Symposium will hit its sixth year with The Media’s Right to Offend: Exploring Legal and Ethical Limits on Free Speech, a one-day conference on November 1, 2008, organized by the University of King’s College School of Journalism and Calgary’s Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership.
Legal, human rights and media experts from across Canada will discuss the legal limits on what Canadians can speak and write, and explore the ethical considerations for journalists who cover minorities and racial and religious issues. The symposium, which will be held in Alumni Hall on King’s campus from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., will also feature a keynote address from The Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente.
Panelists at this event include: Stephen Ward, the director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin; Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, the director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s Freedom of Expression Project; Ezra Levant, a lawyer and former publisher of the Western Standard; Kelly Toughill, an associate professor of journalism at King’s and Toronto Star columnist; Wayne MacKay, a Dalhousie Law School professor and expert in constitutional and human rights law; John Miller, the associate chair of the Ryerson School of Journalism in Toronto; and David Swick, a lecturer on journalism ethics at King’s.
Unfortunately, Dr Mark Mercer of St Mary’s University is not on the panel. Dr Mercer has written several articles in recent months on the issue of free speech in Canada and would make a valuable addition to the panel. Maybe he’ll be able to attend and ask a few pointed questions from the floor.
h/t: Right To Know Coalition of Nova Scotia
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October 15th, 2008 at 07:08 PM
Scott,
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/halifax/exhibit.asp?ID=142
The man in that picture is my father’s grandfather. He ghost wrote Joseph Howe’s speeches.
What is a bigger disappointment than the fact that Mark Mercer will not be participating is the fact that former SMU philosophy professor Peter March (of controversial cartoon fame) will not.
I know Peter well.
If Jack Layton had been elected last night, in a matter of weeks or months I would have been arrested under 319 of the Criminal Code because of the opinions I have stated on the internet concerning a certain political ideology that we in Canada dare not speak of except in Orwellian endorsement.
Judging from the roster of speakers….it will be a propaganda session justifying censorship in the name of political correctness.
October 15th, 2008 at 10:45 PM
While I wholeheartedly support the ‘media’s right to offend’, I think there is an even greater issue at play here: every single Canadian’s right to offend!!!
We live in an era when ’special dispensations’ are allowed for certain elites, while rights are stripped from individuals. And, like it or not, ‘the media’ ARE an elite!!!
I am too far away (and not at liberty to travel now) to attend….please, make sure that the agenda does not become hijacked, so that only ‘approved media’ might have ‘the right to offend’, while the rest of us ‘common folk’ get relegated to an Orwellian nightmare!!!
Whatever is allowed each and every citizen will – by extention – be allowed by the media. Let’s keep the focus there!
October 16th, 2008 at 02:46 PM
[...] EZRA EVENT! “The 6th annual Joseph Howe Symposium will be held on Saturday, 1 November, at University of [...]
October 16th, 2008 at 06:54 PM
MAUS, Thanks for the very interesting historical background. You could be right, but I think that, with Ezra on the panel, the symposium will be a focussed debate from differing viewpoints.
Xanthippa, Good point. Very true.