Journalist conference focuses on upholding truth amid censorious times

The Democracy Fund (TDF) hosted a student journalism conference in Toronto this past weekend where the theme was 'fighting censorship.'

In the three-day program sponsored by Rebel News, True North and The Independent Press Gallery, nearly two-dozen budding journalists from all across Canada were accepted into the conference through a written application.

Some of the keynote speakers were Andrew Lawton, Ezra Levant, Sheila Gunn Reid, Rodney Palmer, Aaron Gunn, and many more.

Rebel Commander Ezra Levant stated:

I love what the Democracy Fund does, promoting civil liberties. Mainly it does that in court, but training new journalists to care about civil liberties is an important project too.

I also am here with my Rebel News hat on because when 20+ of the brightest freedom oriented student journalists are in one place, I want to be there not only to give them some tips, but we're always looking for new talent.

Some of these keynote speakers provided trade secrets and tips and tricks on what it takes to be an independent journalist in light of the monolithic mainstream media.

"We have a lot of large monolithic media organizations in this country that are all saying the exact same thing," said Filmmaker Aaron Gunn. "We need people digging a little deeper, telling the other side of the story and providing Canadians with a large variety of information, narratives and perspectives so that they can make their own decisions about what's happening in the country they call home."

Speaking truth, including truth to power, is a recurring theme among both speakers and attendees.

"The power of truth cannot be overstated," said Andrew Lawton. "And what I mean by that is that self-censorship is the most effective form of censorship. It's people that just keep their mouths shut and don't say what they know to be true or what they think to be true because they're afraid of what other people think."

One student at the conference even said that, "You know you're really close to the truth is when more people are trying to stop you from getting there."

It’s reminiscent of the quote by Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle when he stated that, "[C]ourage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others."

Without the cornerstones of freedom of the press and freedom of expression, democracy crumbles.