Is the media above the law?

I suppose we all smiled along with Liberal leadership candidate, Joe Volpe, as we watched news coverage of two protesters haunting him with signs.

CP/Jonathan Hayward

The MP showed class by taking it in stride when his campaign is being assailed for paying to sign up new members, and registering members who have been dead for years. Unfortunately, the press did not show the same decorum as the embattled Liberal candidate. After Mr. Volpe went in to his press conference, reporters present outside began to assault the protesters in an effort to reveal their identities.

How do you suppose those same reporters would have fared if they tried to unmask the protesters at a G-8 Summit or similar event? Perhaps overcome by curiosity, reporters pulled violently on the protesters' hoods and then chased one of them down a busy thoroughfare. (See video of assault here).

CP/Jonathan Hayward

The legal definition of assault is "intentional touching without consent." There is no doubt that these harmless and humorous protesters were assaulted in front of television cameras, but charges will likely never be laid because the protester would have to reveal his identity. I'm sure the ambitious reporters knew this, so they rolled the dice because it was just too tantalizing to imagine that their identity might prove embarrassing for someone else. The question arises, "Should the media, in the course of reporting, be above the law?" Watch the video again; perhaps the first attempt could be considered light-hearted fun - but then the repeated attempts to unmask the protester, and chasing him through traffic? I could think of a host of charges that could be laid, were the victim perhaps a racial minority...

My point is this: we have come to expect bad behavior from the Liberals. So when Mr. Volpe's campaign allegedly signs up Sebastiano Sperduti (a man who has been dead for 17 years) we just shrug our shoulders and say 'That's just the way politics works.' And when we witness members of the media battering a peaceful protester on national TV, we are willing to overlook their 'indiscretion,' because we too are intrigued by the possible identity of the victim. We live in a parliamentary democracy that is supposed to be governed by the rule of law - unless of course you carry a press badge. So a couple of individuals wanted to have a little fun at Mr. Volpe's expense; his campaign may take children's money for donations and sign up dead people - but at least they don't commit assault on the public!

- TruBlue