Reporters dead, arrested, berated by authoritarian regimes home and abroad

A Russian journalist who, just a week before had been reporting on what he called “gigantic corruption” from the Russian-held Mariupol region of Ukraine, has been found dead. (Remarkably, reports indicate he did not fall out a window.)

In entirely unrelated news, David Menzies, a reporter for Canada’s conservative Rebel News Network, was recently arrested for asking Chrystia Freeland why Trudeau’s government refuses to label Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC) a terrorist organization—Freeland is Trudeau’s second-in-command. A now viral video of the event, posted by the outlet’s own Ezra Levant, shows Menzies hustling down a public sidewalk alongside Freeland, when a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) appears to intentionally bump into the Menzies from outside his peripheral. The officer then promptly begins to arrest Menzies, claiming that the journalist “assaulted” him—an obviously bogus charge for anyone watching the video.

But, what the hell, Menzies had it coming! I mean, asking a member of the royal government a question which Freeland obviously preferred not to answer…or even hear posed! (“Freeland”? No that’s ironic.)

Meanwhile, also entirely unrelated to be sure, members of U.S. President Joe Biden’s campaign team have been trying to coordinate media coverage and amplify their preferred narratives while simultaneously berating reporters for “what they’re getting wrong.” In fact, Biden himself recently admonished reporters…and instructed them to start reporting things “the right way.” (If they know what’s good for them, apparently.)

According to Semafor, these “off-the-record trips for top political reporters and editors” to Biden’s campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, are being conducted so as to review media coverage and “correct” what the campaign believes they’re getting wrong.

Look at the bright side: unlike in Russia, journalists are only being canceled, threatened, or arrested by authoritarian governments in Canada and the United States! Surely radical leftist governments led by the likes of Trudeau and Biden won’t go any further in their attempts to intimidate an already mostly compliant press in North America. Right? And surely a once (supposedly) free and unbiased press wouldn’t put up with any more attempts by these regimes to shape what—and how—they report. Correct?

Just kidding! We all know the answer to those questions, though some may not wish to admit it.

Democracy doesn’t “Die in Darkness.” It is simply effectively snuffed out by those beholden to those in power—or too craven to resist them…even in the light of day.

Image generated by AI.