Denial of access

Montreal police refuse to answer questions from The Rover

A Montreal police media relations officer refused to answer an emailed request from journalist Christopher Curtis, because the officer didn’t consider his outlet The Rover to be a “professional” media organization. 

“Given the high volume of media requests we receive and the human resources available in our department, we have had to establish service standards in order to ensure optimal service to journalists working for professional media,” the officer wrote, as shown in a screenshot of the email Curtis shared on Twitter. 

The police later sent him a statement responding to his request after the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec contacted the police on his behalf, said Curtis.