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Journalism of Courage
A day after New Delhi said Ottawa had blocked an Australian news outlet for airing remarks of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, The Australia Today confirmed the ban “under orders from the Canadian government”.
The Australia Today Managing Editor Jitarth Jai Bharadwaj, in a statement Friday on X, said, “The recent restriction and ban on our interview with Indian External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar and the press conference with Australian Foreign Minister @SenatorWong on social media, under orders from the Canadian government, have been difficult for our team and those who value free and open journalism.”
On Thursday, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the MEA, said, “We understand that the social media handles and pages of this particular outlet, which is an important diaspora outlet, have been blocked and are not available for viewers in Canada. This happened just an hour or a few hours after this particular handle carried the press conference of S Jaishankar along with Penny Wong, and the outlet also had several articles on the (Australia) visit of the External Affairs Minister, as also an interview of him. We were surprised. It looks strange to us.”
The MEA said the action “yet again highlights the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech”. In his statement, Bharadwaj thanked people for their support “despite these restrictions” by sharing “the coverage on other platforms, or voicing concerns about press freedom”.
“We deeply appreciate the solidarity shown by our community and their commitment to upholding the freedom of information and the right of audiences to access diverse perspectives,” he said, adding that they will “continue to strive for transparency, accuracy, and the right to tell stories that matter”.
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