February 24, 2025 – for immediate release
The National NewsMedia Council (NNC) has considered and dismissed with reservation a complaint about accuracy in an October 12, 2024, article published by Press Progress.
The article reported that a B.C. politician had warned people about “self-described ‘conspiracies’” related to the United Nations’ involvement in municipal affairs, based on comments from an interview the politician had with a writer. The story noted that the politician referenced an unnamed “good friend” of his in Ontario who “investigates” such conspiracies. It also noted that he did not respond to questions about whether his friend was the Ontario-based community organizer Maggie Braun.
Maggie Braun filed a complaint with the NNC stating concern about the article’s characterization of her as a “far-right activist.” The complainant stated that the label was a mischaracterization of her work, which focuses on transparency and local governance, and that it inaccurately aligned her with extreme ideologies, which she said jeopardizes her work as a civic advocate.
The news organization responded to the concerns raised by the complainant by explaining, “Given Braun matched [the B.C. politician Brent Chapman’s] description and is widely-known as perhaps the most vocal advocate on the topic of a supposed United Nations ‘takeover’ of municipal governments in Canada, it appeared likely Chapman was making direct reference to Braun.”
The news organization stated that the article in question was a 900-word story primarily focused on Chapman’s controversial statements and views, with only a brief reference to the complainant. It noted that neither the politician nor the complainant responded to requests for comment.
The news organization noted that the statement in question includes a hyperlink to past reporting, which provides information about Braun’s political activities and beliefs. The news organization explained that the hyperlinked article includes information about the complainant’s involvement in the Freedom Convoy, as well as other activities, including “her involvement in the QAnon-adjacent ‘Save the Children Convoy,’ and a video featuring Braun invoking sovereign citizen rhetoric.”
In its response, the news organization stated, “the term ‘far-right’ is an umbrella term that refers to a constellation of right-wing ideological positions, narratives and beliefs that generally fall outside the norms of mainstream centre-right politics.” It stated that it described the complainant as a “far-right activist” because “it is an accurate description and reflects our opinion, which is based on publicly available facts, as a matter of public interest.”
The news organization added that the complainant has “expressed extreme and conspiratorial views on a number of topics that generally fall far to the right of what would generally be considered mainstream centre-right politics.”
The news organization pointed to several examples of issues about which the complainant has expressed views to support the characterization of her work as “far-right” and “activism.” In particular, the news organization noted her “conspiratorial ideas that ‘15 minute city’ urban planning initiatives are part of a United Nations plot to force people to live inside small urban zones that will be enforced by “24/7 surveillance,” “geofencing” and “digital passports.” It also pointed to her appearances with other politicians who espouse far-right or extreme views.
In reviewing the matter, the NNC considered the material provided by parties as well as widely available material. In this case, the NNC understands that the complainant has been involved in a number of issues related to local governance and policy reform, particularly against United Nations climate change initiatives, and was a political candidate with the former Canadian Action Party. Previous reporting from other news organizations, for example, has characterized her as a self-described “civil rights activist.”
In considering the issue at hand, Council considered the use of labels both in the sense of labelling the specific category of article as well as the use of ‘labels’ to describe individuals. As is standard, Council considered the news organization’s own guidelines as well as widely-accepted standards and practices.
The news organization states in its journalistic guidelines, “All of our articles include description labels. We do this to communicate the purpose of the article to readers and to distinguish between different types of journalistic formats.” The news organization distinguishes between a number of different formats, including “news,” “explainer,” and “analysis” pieces. Its guidelines state that a news article on its website “documents new and important information that has not been previously reported. These articles prioritize gathering and verifying information.”
In this case, Council supports the news organization’s clear use and explanation of labels, and agrees that the article’s format aligns with the “news” label.
When reporting news stories, journalists take care to avoid the use of overly broad characterizations, or generalizations, and instead describe the relevant facts to readers. The Canadian Press Stylebook tells journalists, for example, “Resist broad labels like climate-change denier or climate skeptic, instead explaining the specific beliefs of a person or group.”
In this case, the NNC observed that the news organization noted that the use of the term “far right” was the “opinion” of the journalist based on widely available facts. That said, while articles may summarize or characterize verifiable facts, journalists take care to avoid opining on facts and instead report them in a straightforward manner.
Council agreed with the news organization that the term “far right” may capture a number of perspectives. At the same time, the use of the term in the context of news reporting has been the subject of discussion, particularly given the lack of consensus or shared understanding around its definition. Other news organizations have cautioned against the use of the term “alt-right” and instead encouraged providing readers with a definition of the term in cases when it must be used, for example, in quoted statements.
Council considered widely-available material about “far-right” politics and activity. Generally speaking, at its more extreme end, the term “far-right” may refer to political views and ideologies that are exclusionary, authoritarian, and supportive of the use of violence to accomplish political ends. It may also capture a range of conspiracy theories. That said, the broad meaning and ambiguity of the term may leave readers with an inaccurate, or at the very least imprecise, understanding of the facts.
While journalists have prerogative over specific word choice, statements must adhere to the journalistic standard of accuracy. The NNC recognizes that news organizations have different style guides and, therefore, that practices surrounding specific language use may differ among news organizations.
In this case, Council recognized that the news organization pointed to several examples of the complainant’s views that may be consistent with the news organization’s use of the term in that such views “fall far to the right of what would generally be considered mainstream centre-right politics.” Council also recognized that the news organization pointed to examples of the complainant associating with other individuals and groups that may be characterized as holding more extreme views.
Importantly, it is not the role of the NNC to decide on definitions of terms, such as “far right.” Rather, the NNC looks at widely-available evidence and the information presented to readers to assess whether the language used in an article is consistent with the news organization’s practices and accurately reflects the facts at hand.
The NNC noted that the complainant did not raise specific objections with, or counter the accuracy of, the examples of her work cited in the article or during the complaints process. The NNC would also note that it is relevant to consider the complainant’s concerns in light of the expectations around reporting on public figures, particularly given her former role as a political candidate and her current political advocacy.
At the same time, the subjectivity of political perspectives and their relevant place on a broad, sometimes shifting, spectrum calls for consideration and precision in language use. To avoid over-generalizing and imprecise language, the NNC would emphasize best practice is to clearly report the facts rather than risk ambiguous descriptors that may leave readers with an unclear or inaccurate understanding of the matters at hand.
For the reasons outlined above, Council dismissed the complaint with the reservation that oversimplified labelling in news reporting should be avoided, and emphasized the best practice of providing clear descriptions of facts and reported statements so that readers may understand a subject’s views or political ideology in context.