Benjamin Dichter, one of the Freedom Convoy’s main organizers, took the stand on Nov. 3 at the Public Order Emergency Commission, testifying that he distrusted most of the media covering the demonstrations because the outlets focused on controversial figures and misrepresented protesters.
Dichter said that the “legacy media” and resulting concerns over public perception prompted the convoy to put out public statements distancing the protest from any possible or potential future violence.
“The reason we needed to put these messages out... was because of the legacy media that was putting out a narrative that was completely false. About these phantom violent people I never saw,” said Dichter.
“My skepticism for legacy media is quite high,” he said. “I saw during the convoy, a headline ... that truckers are weaponizing freedom in the name of white supremacy.”
Commission lawyers questioned Dichter on whether there were people involved with the convoy that wanted a change of government, referring to allegations from some media reports that protesters wanted to overthrow the government.
Dichter said, no, “not the convoy” and mentioned “fringe elements” that crop up in these sorts of events.
Dichter suggested that because the media was covering controversial figures like Pat King, the freedom convoy’s main organizers had to put out a statement to distance themselves. One communication said: “Pat King represents only himself, he does not represent the freedom convoy.”
Dichter was questioned on how he decided where to focus the convoy’s communications efforts.
“I was getting requests from all over the world, from every news agency imaginable,” he said.
He said the convoy wanted to talk to media that they believed would give protesters “a fair representation.” Dichter said he went to media that could leverage alternative media platforms and had the largest platforms, or could reach the most people.
Dichter testified he gave television interviews to Fox News, Tucker Carlson, Hannity, Newsmax, and podcasts with Gad Saad, Jordan Peterson, and Steven Crowder.
He was asked if he refused to give interviews to some of what he referred to as “legacy media.”
Dichter said in one instance, one outlet published a cartoon meme that was “defamatory” of the truckers and that the convoy “saw some narratives coming out from established Canadian media trying tie us to January 6, which has nothing to do with this protest.”
Jan. 6 refers to the date that protestors entered the U.S. Capitol building in 2021 to demonstrate against what they said was election fraud after Joe Biden won the 2020 U.S. federal election.
