Media from around the world converge on Ottawa to cover convoy protest

The world is watching Ottawa as a convoy of anti-public health mandate protesters occupy the city's downtown core.

NBC, ABC, CNN and BBC are just some of the international news agencies that have been reporting on the truckers' protest over the past week.

Ellison Barber is a correspondent for NBC News.

“When I’ve covered protests in the United States in the past, something like this is cleared a bit quicker,” says Barber. “It is interesting how it feels very specifically a story and an issue that is taking place in Canada, and people are talking very specifically about Canadian mandates and restrictions, but the U.S. is watching it.”

ABC News sent New York-based correspondent Trevor Ault to Ottawa. Ault notes the protest also taps into the divisions over the pandemic in the United States.

“Even though this is decidedly a Canadian movement, and all of these protesters are decorated in Canadian flags, there is a lot of support from people in America who are seeing these kind of actions and thinking that they wish something would happen like that where they live,” he says.

He also says it has been fascinating to watch the protest grow from what he calls a “grassroots movement” into something that people from all corners of the world are embracing.

“We are trying to decide, do we chase the new things that bubble up that are maybe closer to America? Do we stay here, because if you leave something much bigger could happen here and then you’re not there to cover it?” says Ault. “And I think every American and a lot of international organizations are facing that dilemma. Because this is so much larger than just the trucks on Wellington Street.”

Overseas, the BBC has been providing constant coverage of the blockade and one of Italy’s leading newspapers recently featured Ottawa on its front page.

Paula Newton, an anchor and correspondent for CNN, has also been covering this story for days. She is based in Ottawa.

“I’m not used to having this much news on my doorstep. That’s for sure,” says Newton. “It’s been interesting just to try and cover this as a foreign international audience because it is different than trying to cover it whether it’s locally, or even nationally for that matter.”

Newton says for her, it’s mostly been peaceful interactions.

From NBC to ABC to CNN and even the New York Times, the world is watching to see how this occupation will finally end.

“People are realizing that other people from around the world may tap into this movement,” says Newton. “I think people hear things of what’s going on here, and they can relate.”