The publication on Facebook by Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon of the questions put to him by a journalist amounts to intimidation, according to the Quebec Journalists Association (FPJQ), demanding the immediate retraction of the message and an apology.
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The Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy posted an email Thursday evening from Francis Halin of the Journal de Montréal questioning him about a personal donation of $5M to HEC Montreal. In particular, he asked him “why he hadn’t waited until after his tenure as Minister to announce this”.
Mr Fitzgibbon then justified sharing the questions on Facebook by saying they represent “the kind of questions we get too often from journalists of this caliber. All too often, Quebecers fail to recognize the aggressiveness and bad faith of these questions, often posed by the same press group.
A message he then tweeted, shared by Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) press officers and Education Minister Bernard Drainville.
“The role of journalists is to ask questions. Although Mr Fitzgibbon does not like his actions to be seen, as a Minister of Ethics it is normal for journalists to search the files and ask legitimate questions. The role of the journalist and the media is then to determine whether the public interest warrants a report on the subject,” FPJQ vice-president Eric-Pierre Champagne said in a press release on Friday.
“It is problematic to personally address a journalist on social networks when coming from a minister, and above all it should not be encouraged by his colleagues and political attachés of his party,” he added.
In particular, the FPJQ demanded that the journalist concerned issue a public apology and that the publication be removed from social media.