Stan Grant

Gillies-Lekakis was guilty of insensitivity and of spouting misinformation (aka Russian propaganda). But the Q+A host was guilty too – of choosing to shut down ...

Asking the young man to “please leave” certainly played well with the studio audience and many (though not all) on social media. According to the most recent report from the United Nations, which was issued in January, more than 14,000 people have died in the conflict that has raged in the Donbas region since 2014. “You can ask a question but you cannot advocate for violence,” he said. Gillies-Lekakis’ words warranted a strong rebuttal, and Grant and his producers ought to have been able to offer one. That was a blatant misrepresentation of the facts. Instead, by ejecting his young interlocutor Grant may have validated his assertion that the media refused to make space for a contrary view.

Host Stan Grant asked Sasha Gillies-Lekakis to leave the studio after he earlier asked a question about how Russia was being portrayed in the media. "As someone ...

That is really ratcheting up and escalating the conflict, which could lead to untold, unknown consequences," he said. "Because for the last seven decades, we've had a global world order based on the rule of law. I think he may not have expected the NATO countries to be as unified as what they are. "What that means in terms of history, we'll have to wait and see. It was a question that was, you know, a rogue question, if you like. I should have asked you to leave then.