(Ottawa) Foreign actors are trying to interfere with Canadian media, and journalists and their bosses must be aware of this, the president of the Committee of Parliamentarians on National Security and Intelligence warned Wednesday.
All forms of media, including mainstream media, are subject to interference by malicious people, said Liberal MP David McGuinty.
He said he could not disclose details because the information is classified.
The media was singled out in a recent review by the committee chaired by Mr. McGuinty.
It highlights how China and India interfere with Canadian media content by engaging directly with journalists and media executives.
“Foreign interference is clearly present in the media, and it’s being singled out in the review, not only in our most recent review, but also in the previous one,” Mr. McGuinty told reporters Wednesday.
“You should read it and pass it on to your owners and editors. »
According to the report, several Chinese-language media outlets in Canada adopted terminology from a People’s Republic of China (PRC) state media article, without attributing the source.
“Most of these media outlets were linked to the PRC through partnership agreements with the China News Service, the Chinese Communist Party’s primary media entity serving Chinese ethnocultural communities, which reports directly to the United Front Work Department, the Chinese Communist Party’s central coordinating body responsible for foreign interference activities,” the document reads.
The report also states that India has developed a network of contacts through which it carries out interference activities involving journalists, members of ethnocultural communities and parliamentarians. He cites as an example India’s efforts to discredit the leader of a political party “using documents drafted by Indian intelligence services.”
The Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Intelligence also observed states manipulating traditional media to spread propaganda in what appeared to be independent news publications, without specifying which countries were involved.
The redacted report is based on secret intelligence, which often does not give the full picture of the situation and does not amount to evidence.
These states are targeting Canada to exploit its open society and penetrate institutions to achieve their goals, the committee’s 2019 report said.
This includes media manipulation, which poses a significant risk to the rights and freedoms of Canadians and to the sovereignty of the country, according to this same report.