At the big anti-carbon-tax rally in Calgary on Sunday, about 1,000 Albertans gathered to register their opposition to the carbon tax, the NDP government … and the media.

Haley Jarmain, a 23-year-old student and part-time reporter, was there to cover the rally for NewsTalk 770, the big talk radio station in Calgary.

As one of the speakers attacked the media for its coverage of a rally in Edmonton the week before — coverage which focused on a “lock her up” chant directed at Premier Rachel Notley — audience members turned to the reporters at the back of the hall and booed.

“People were glaring and booing and it made us all feel a little uncomfortable, at which point I went into the hallway, where I stayed for the majority of the rally,” Jarmain later said during an interview with 770 talk show host Rob Breakenridge.

After the rally ended, a visibly upset man walked up to Jarmain.

“He got very close to me, looked me directly in the eye,” Jarmain told Breakenridge. “He was a taller man, taller than I am. He looked me right in the eye, and said, ‘You’re dead.’”

Another man joined the tall guy and they accused her of acting at the behest of Al Gore, of all people. Jarmain was rattled, but didn’t mention the encounter in her report. She did send out a few tweets later, after she’d filed:

I neglected to point out the multiple times insults were hurled at me at today’s rally in order to give rally goers fair representation. — Haley Jarmain (@HJarmain) December 12, 2016

But I got death threats. Was laughed at. Told that I’m less of a human for my job. — Haley Jarmain (@HJarmain) December 12, 2016

Later, the rally organizer — journalist, activist and libelist Ezra Levant — attacked Jarmain. He set up a website using her name, (haleyjarmain.ca), mockingly offered a $1,000 reward for information about who threatened her and suggested she had made the whole thing up.

Every day, good journalists are losing their jobs because of the collapsing advertising market. Facebook, which has the revenue we used to have, is making money spreading fake news, and outlets like the Rebel daily attack the real reporters still at their posts. Every day, good journalists are losing their jobs because of the collapsing advertising market. Facebook, which has the revenue we used to have, is making money spreading fake news, and outlets like the Rebel daily attack the real reporters still at their posts.

Levant — who once lost an $80,000 libel case after he called someone a liar — called Jarmain a liar, without offering evidence.

On social media, Levant’s devoted anonymous followers started viciously attacking her — an uncomfortable experience for anyone, let alone a 23-year-old part-time reporter.

I won’t pretend to understand why Levant decided to make Jarmain his target, but any journalist who works for Rebel Media should think hard about whether they want to be associated with this kind of behaviour.

I rarely agree with Levant, but I think he’s sometimes right when everyone else is wrong and I often learn things from his outlet. I like The Rebel in a way, just as I like Rabble.ca and Conrad Black columns. I already know what I think, and what people like me think. I like knowing what other people think.

Earlier this year, I was one of many journalists who spoke up for Rebel when the Alberta government was denying it access to the legislature, and I was glad the federal Liberal government helped them when they were denied accreditation by the United Nations.

I come from the broadsheet newspaper tradition, where we have a (somewhat tarnished) set of professional standards that have evolved over time and are meant to ensure that everyone is treated fairly by the press.

Goodness knows we have our failings. We are prone to pack behaviour, to faddish thinking and shallow ‘gotcha’ stories. But for all our flaws, we do not stir up online lynch mobs of flying monkeys to harass blameless 23-year-olds.

We have been trained to comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable, get our facts right and do our best to fairly reflect the views of people with whom we disagree — even people who incite mobs to go after us online.

I believe that propagandists like Levant deserve the same protection under the law that traditional journalists enjoy. “The trouble with fighting for human freedom,” said the American journalist H. L. Mencken, “is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.”

But I think I might be done defending this particular scoundrel.

Every day, good journalists are losing their jobs because of the collapsing advertising market, sending their sad little farewell messages online as they apply for jobs in the bureaucracy or public relations.

Facebook, which has the revenue we used to have, is making money spreading fake news, and outlets like the Rebel daily attack the real reporters still at their posts.

The model for the Rebel is likely the American Breitbart News Network, which, like Rebel Media, bashes Muslims, the media, feminists and environmentalists.

The Washington Post recently reported that Stephen Bannon, who is now a Donald Trump adviser, and several other Breitbart staffers were secretly on salary for a charity funded by a politically active billionaire.

We should start to ask why these outlets spend so much time trying to destroy our credibility, let them know that we see them for what they are — and assure them that we are not going to give up without a fight.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.