(FPJQ/IFEX) – The following is an FPJQ press release: Crime journalist Michel Auger wounded by gunfire The crime journalist for the French-language daily Le Journal de Montreal, Michel Auger, was shot five times earlier today by gunmen who then fled the scene. The journalist’s life is not threatened. Michel Auger has been covering the Quebec […]
(FPJQ/IFEX) – The following is an FPJQ press release:
Crime journalist Michel Auger wounded by gunfire
The crime journalist for the French-language daily Le Journal de Montreal, Michel Auger, was shot five times earlier today by gunmen who then fled the scene. The journalist’s life is not threatened. Michel Auger has been covering the Quebec criminal scene, and in particular, criminal bike gangs, for more than thirty years. He had already been threatened several times because of his professional activities.
The Federation professionnelle des journalistes du Quebec views this attempt on Mr. Auger’s life as a serious, brutal and shocking attack on press freedom and democracy. Journalists must always have the freedom to cover stories of public interest without threat or attack.
This attack is an attempt to intimidate all Quebec journalists. Some will now be forced to think twice before publishing certain kinds of information. We cannot accept that information of public interest will be silenced because of threats against journalists. We must ensure that journalists in our country do not lose the very freedoms for which many journalists around the world are fighting.
To our knowledge, this is the third time that there has been an attack on the life of a Quebec journalist in the past thirty years.
The FPJQ is saddened by this attack on Michel Auger and hopes that he will have a speedy recovery. We are convinced that he will continue to pursue his journalistic work with the same determination. Mr. Auger is a respected member of the FPJQ. He worked for a variety of media organizations, including Le Nouvelliste, Metro Express, La Presse and CBC before joining Le Journal de Montreal in 1984.
Helene Pichette, president of the FPJQ
