Canary hits back at smears with blow-by-blow account of left news site’s end

The Canary has hit back against the months-long smear and sabotage campaign, by issuing a detailed chronology of the events that led to the left news site’s closure. The article includes an exposé of the alleged actions of a small number of staff members, both as current and former staff members – some of whom are still attempting to undermine the Canary and its former writers as well as its management.

Debanking

The saboteurs running a foul-toned ‘staff’ account on X have attempted to imply that the Canary was not, in fact, debanked by the Lloyds and Metro banks, though they have never engaged with requests to provide any proof or even a firm answer whether the debanking happened. The Canary’s former directors have tried to use a text message they received from Lloyds about a loan account they had opened to suggest the same. The new rebuttal account goes through the debanking and its impacts in detail, including the refusal of a string of banks to open an account because of the debanking.

Ultimately, Lloyds paid compensation of £4,500 for the summary debanking – a paltry amount compared to the problems it caused, but proof that the debanking occurred. However, the ‘staff’ account continues its attempts to undermine this regardless.

Short-lived paper edition

The debanking also led to the demise of the Canary’s landmark daily paper, which had started profitably but could not survive a ‘mainstream’ press attack coordinated with paper stockists, because of the strangled funding caused by the bank attacks.

Lost funding

£2.5m promised by an investor to set up a Canary TV channel was summarily withdrawn, while the sellers of a site the Canary bought had withheld the fact that it had lost its main donor, contributing £15,000 a month, during the merger negotiations.

WhatsApp coup

The Canary article covers the establishment, by a clique of staff, of a WhatsApp group to coordinate a takeover attempt. Alongside this, two senior staff tried to use CEO Steve Topple’s wedding as an opportunity to hijack key systems of the outlet – and arranged a meeting with a donor to try to fund the coup, while trying to push through a change to the outlet’s policies so they could not be held accountable.

Some – not all – members of the WhatsApp group even discussed “forging documents from Lloyds Bank to make out Canary Media Limited had not been debanked”. This modus operandi of attempting to smear and discredit has continued in the saboteur X account’s posts. Group members also began leaking to hostile ‘mainstream’ media outlets.

Donors flee

The supposed ‘staff’ account has claimed that its actions were only for the good of Canary staff – transparent nonsense given its tone and personal attacks. Ultimately, donors who were on the verge of stepping in to rescue the outlet withdrew out of fear of the negative publicity the smears, leaks and briefings were generating. The supposed ‘concern for Canary staff’ ended up costing all remaining staff their jobs – including many who are in vulnerable situations.

Skwawkbox’s comment

Skwawkbox spent just over a year as part of the Canary. Skwawkbox’s Steve Walker said:

I can’t comment first-hand on everything, as I wasn’t a witness to every event. However, what I did see was an organisation that prioritised the wellbeing of staff and recognised the pressures they faced trying to combat the powerful, malignant forces that support genocide, hate, racism and exploitation.

Staff were not just allowed, but encouraged to take time off for mental and physical health whenever they needed it. Workers could even claim a monthly allowance for counselling or other mental health support if they needed it.

The diseased workplace painted by the sabotage account bore no resemblance to the organisation I saw or the spirit among team members I experienced. When Skwawkbox first merged with the Canary, I received warnings from Jewish anti-Zionists that a couple of recent staff members were security service plants. It’s not possible to say for certain that those warnings were accurate – but they are consistent with the nature of the attacks we as a team experienced.

I said when Skwawkbox relaunched as a standalone site:

“The Canary’s fall is a tragedy for the victims of the push toward fascism, a gross injustice for those who worked there honestly, and a lesson in the absolute need for resistance and solidarity. The UK, and particularly the UK media landscape, is better off for its having existed, and worse off for its closure.”

I stand by that assessment and any reader need only take a look at the type of people who are exulting over its downfall to reach their own conclusion.

Read the full new Canary tell-all here. If you’d like to support Skwawkbox, see below.

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