Media giant Quebecor, owner of the Sun Media newspapers, is withdrawing from the Quebec Press Council.
Some of the province’s biggest newspapers, including the tabloid Journal de Montreal, will no longer answer to the media oversight body.
The press council, headed by the well-known retired Justice John Gomery, is a non-profit organization that lobbies for freedom of the press and the public right to information.
Quebecor accused the council of issuing what it called arbitrary decisions and had threatened to sue the council if its actions hurt business.
Gomery said he will, however, continue to investigate complaints against the company’s newspapers.
The body examines complaints from the public, then issues rulings about whether journalists acted properly.
