July 5, 2021
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CANADALAND
#376 What Is Black Press, And Did Victoria Police Re-Write Its News Story?
News stories are frequently updated, clarified or corrected online, after they've been published. But when there's no disclosure that a story has been changed, something's usually up. 
Jesse Brown
Host & Publisher
Tristan Capacchione
Audio Editor & Technical Producer

Producer/reporter Alex de Boer digs deep into one such case, when an article in Victoria News about a demonstration in support of the Wet’suwet’en protests originally centred an Indigenous land defender. That version disappeared without explanation, and a new, drastically different story suddenly appeared in its place, along with a video from Victoria’s Police chief, containing claims of violence that people present say, are simply not true. How and why were these changes made? Why were they not explained? Did the police demand, and receive, a re-write? And what can we learn about Black Press, the newspaper chain that publishes Victoria News and many more B.C. papers?

Further Reading:

Feb.2, 2020 version of the story: Link
Feb.7, 2020 (and current) version of the story: Link

Additional Music provided by The Audio Network

Sponsors: PolicyMe, Article, Freshbooks

CORRECTION (July 12, 2021, 10:00am EDT) In this episode, Alex de Boer states that “Kitimat is where bitumen and natural gas from Alberta old sands arrives before being shipped to overseas markets.” In fact, the refinery referenced is a proposed endeavour from publisher David Black, not an active one. 

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