Australia Today reacts after Toronto’s ban for broadcasting Jaishankar’s press meet
Australian media outlet ‘The Australia Today’ on Friday voiced its concern a day after Canada blocked it from broadcasting the press conference of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Australian counterpart, Penny Wong.
In an interview with CNN-News18, the Editor-in-chief of Australia Today, Jitarth Jai Bharadwaj asked why Canada was targeting the Australian media outlet when Canada had problems with India.
“We will continue to report on the issues related to the broader Indian diaspora. If Canada has a problem with India, then why are they targeting us?” Bharadwaj told CNN-News18.
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He also said he would like to interview Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to seek his views on the Indian diaspora.
“We are happy to interview the Canadian PM about his views on the Indian diaspora,” said Bharadwaj.
The media outlet also issued a statement on the social media platform X. We at @TheAusToday would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to every #news outlet, #journalist, and #supporter who stood by us during a challenging time. The recent restriction and ban on our interview with Indian External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar and the press conference with Australian Foreign Minister @SenatorWong on #socialmedia, under orders from the Canadian government, have been difficult for our team and those who value free and open #journalism,” it said on X.
India on Thursday called out Canada’s “hypocrisy towards freedom of speech” after the country banned Australia Today. Ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Canada blocked Australia Today. Its content and social media pages are no longer accessible to Canadian users, he said.
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“…We understand that the social media handles and pages of this particular outlet, which is an important diaspora outlet, have been blocked and are no longer available for viewers in Canada. This happened just a few hours after this outlet carried a press conference of the External Affairs Minister along with Penny Wong. The outlet also published several articles on the visit of the External Affairs Minister, as well as an interview with him. So, we were surprised. It seems strange to us…” he told reporters during the ministry’s routine briefing.
During Jaishankar’s official trip to Australia, Wong raised Canada’s allegations against India and said she discussed the issue with her Indian counterpart in Canberra. India has denied the allegation that Union Home Minister Amit Shah ordered the targeting of pro-Khalistan separatists inside Canada.