SILVA: Controlling the Narrative: Rules Media

On November 14, 2025, outside the event “Democracy Under Threat” hosted by NDP leadership hopeful Yves Engler, an incident occurred that raises serious questions about accountability in independent media. A man — unknown at the time and lacking any visible press credentials — was filming attendees at close range. Only after the event was he identified as Adam Lee Wasserman, associated with Caryma Sa’d’s Rules media.

As the event concluded, the man continued moving through the crowd, recording individuals without explanation. Among those present was Provincial Times journalist Will Adams, attending in an official press capacity. When the man turned his camera directly toward him, Will did what any professional journalist would: he stated his full name, media outlet, and clarified that he was there as a member of the press.

Adams then asked the man to do the same — to identify himself or name the outlet he represented. Instead, the man refused to answer and continued filming, stepping even closer to capture Will’s face. Later, when Caryma’s Rules posted footage on social media, this context was deliberately removed. Will’s identification and professionalism were cut from the clip to create the narrative that they were the victims of intimidation.

Fortunately, this was verifiable only because Will recorded the entire interaction himself — professionally and in full. In Will’s footage, he repeatedly asks who the man is. Instead of responding, Lee tells him to “take your camera out of my face,” despite being the one who initiated filming at close range. Moments later, Lee claims he has the right to film anyone’s face — which is correct — but the hypocrisy is impossible to ignore: he asserts the right for himself while demanding others not do the same.

This exchange, too, was omitted from the video posted by Caryma’s Rules.

For the record: Will never approached Lee. Lee approached Will.

A short time after, someone in attendance lifted his jacket and simply placed it in front of Lee’s camera, interrupting the filming without touching him or interfering physically. Yet online, the story posted by Caryma’s Rules framed this as an “attack,” despite the video showing no such thing

In the full unedited footage, Lee also states: “I have been called a Nazi.” However, no one present called him those things. This segment was also cut from the published video — further evidence of a constructed victim narrative. Will Adams posted the full video in the comments, addressing the misinformation directly..

One might expect an outlet that brands itself as “independent media” to respond to the full uncut footage. Instead, when Will Adams provided it, Caryma’s Rules blocked him — avoiding accountability rather than engaging with the evidence.

Not only has Caryma blocked Will Adams, but she later posted another claim full of lies—one that Will could not even defend himself against due to the block. This shows that the media has no intention of presenting more than one side of the story, a contradiction to the idea of such “free media.” They also cut and edited the video to their advantage, stripping it of context. From a nearly four-minute video, they reduced it to exactly one minute.

They state that Will Adams misstated the law of assault, but here is the actual definition: assault is the intentional application of force to another person without their consent, or the threat of such force when the person has the present ability to carry it out. At no point did Mike Palecek physically touch anyone, which once again shows how they mislead the public for their own gain. This alone debunks both the first and second points.

As for the third point, it makes no sense once you’ve watched the full video. However, for people who rely solely on her selectively edited media, it may appear legitimate.

At the Provincial Times, we remain committed to truth over narrative, transparency over manipulation. This incident serves as a reminder to always scrutinize what is presented online, regardless of the outlet. No media — mainstream or independent — should be immune from scrutiny.

Above all, we thank Will Adams for his professionalism, integrity, and remarkable composure during the incident — qualities that uphold the values we strive for at The Provincial Times.

This piece was written by an individual contributor and reflects the editorial position of The Provincial Times and Left Lane Media Group. Read our Content Policy here.Read our Content Policy here.