Uncovering the media's cover-up: The disappearance of Quebecor’s pandemic columns
It appears that the newspapers, Le Journal de Québec and Le Journal de Montréal, both owned by Quebecor, have attempted to erase a portion of their reprehensible media coverage published during the pandemic.
For those of you who do not follow opinion articles, numerous columns published during the pandemic period, signed by columnists such as Richard Martineau, Sophie Durocher, Denise Bombardier, Loïc Tassé, Mario Dumont, and Josée Legault, have been removed from circulation.
On August 7, Libre Média, owned by chief editor Jérôme Blanchet-Gravel, reported this phenomenon. Jérôme explained how he was alerted to the situation:
"Some internet users themselves, through a kind of citizen journalism, discovered that these articles were no longer available. Libre Média conducted its own investigation, its own verifications, and realized on August 6th that a certain number of articles published by users were indeed no longer available."
These malicious chronicles depicted unvaccinated individuals in a degrading, hateful and defamatory manner.
"While it's known that Quebecor was one of the main mouthpieces for the Quebec government for two and a half years, with truly shocking coverage, it must be mentioned that it was of an exceptionally sensationalist editorial vulgarity," Jérôme emphasized.
It is particularly astonishing to observe a media outlet attempting to remove articles from its archives, especially in the middle of summer when attention is diverted elsewhere.
Regarding this matter, Mr. Blanchet-Gravel stated:
"When one delves into the archives, it's usually because there's something to be held accountable for. I genuinely hope it's a digital error. Because if it's true, it's quite troubling."
Jérôme Blanchet-Gravel continued his investigation by sending an email to Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec on August 7, seeking to understand the reasons behind these deletions.
In response to this inquiry, Le Journal de Québec stated on August 8 that an automatic deletion policy was implemented after 18 months of publication. Nonetheless, inconsistencies persisted.
After all the pressure on Quebecor regarding these unavailable articles, they suddenly and mysteriously reappeared on their platform. This contradicts their alleged deletion policy, prompting several questions.
Alexandra Lavoie
Quebec based Journalist
Alexa graduated with a degree in biology from Laval University. Throughout her many travels, she has seen political instability as well as corruption. While she witnessed social disorder on a daily basis, she has always been a defender of society’s most vulnerable. She’s been around the world several times, and now joins Rebel News to shed light on today’s biggest stories.