Surrey man under investigation after CNN anchor threatened

A Surrey man is in the crosshairs of multiple police agencies between Canada and the U.S. after a CNN anchor received multiple death threats.

The BC Prosecution Service confirms to CityNews that it is involved in the investigation reported by the CBC.

The outlet, citing court documents, says the RCMP has been contacted by Interpol — an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation — the New York Police Department, and the FBI about a series of threats against anchor Erin Burnett. Some of the threats also target her family and colleagues.

“The file is currently undergoing charge assessment,” the prosecution service tells CityNews, adding there is no word on when that process will be complete.

The CBC reports Mounties arrested a man in July in connection with this investigation, adding his electronic devices were confiscated. The man is said to have been released.

The threats against Burnett are said to have spanned months.

Burnett is currently the anchor of CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront, in which she delivers the day’s headlines with in-depth analysis.

Increases in threats against journalists

Threats against journalists are nothing new.

“In the last decade, journalism and the media have undergone a cataclysmic change that has upended various aspects of the ways in which news is created, consumed and disseminated,” a report, shared by Global Affairs Canada in November 2020, reads, in part.

“These digital and social transformations have had implications for the safety—or lack thereof—of journalists.”

In May of this year, the UN echoed concerns, writing that journalists and other media workers “are facing ‘increasing politicization’ of their work and threats to their freedom to simply do their jobs, that are ‘growing by the day.'”

This past September, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to an open letter that was signed by dozens of media organizations in Canada.

At the time, he said police forces need to take seriously what was described as a pattern of hate and harassment targeting public figures, including journalists.

The letter was published by the Canadian Association of Journalists and included more calls for action by police, including for them to not treat complaints as isolated incidents.

The association raised concerns earlier this year about an alarming rise in physical and verbal assaults on journalists, many of whom were targeted during anti-government protests in Ottawa and across the country.

-With files from The Canadian Press