Whatever happened to freedom of the press?
A story on the front page of today’s Globe and Mail reminds us just how highly freedom of the press is valued by Canadian authorities. Derek Finkle, editor of Toro and author of 1998’s No Claim to Mercy, will be appearing in a Toronto courtroom today, in response to a Crown subpoena that is requiring him to hand over the vast collection of information he gathered while researching his book.
No Claim to Mercy is a true-crime book that follows the trial of Robert Baltovich, who at 24 was accused — and convicted — of killing his girlfriend. As the Globe reports, the book “strongly denounced the Baltovich police investigation and prosecution and strenuously advanced the notion that Mr. Baltovich was wrongly convicted at his first trial.”
The Ontario Court of Appeal ordered a new trial two years ago, and it’s scheduled to take place in a few weeks.
Finkle has no hesitation about opposing this subpoena, as he told the Globe: “I’m totally prepared to fight, but this is going to wreak havoc on my financial situation. It has cost me at least a couple of thousand dollars already, and we haven’t even started to fight yet. I don’t work for The Globe or the Ottawa Citizen. I have to decide how much debt I can incur. At a certain point, I may not be able to fight any more.”
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Read the full story at the Globe
