The Toronto Star's ideological shakedown operation

It is time to infuse Christmas cheer and year-end goodwill into my relations with the disgraced Toronto Star. Columnist Rosie DiManno's Monday reply to my column last Saturday was based mainly on unexceptionable quotes from me — so in a sense, I wrote much of her article. I agree with her that Barbara (my wife) and Barbara's former husband (and my dear friend) George Jonas are certainly better writers than I am. My only objections to what DiManno wrote are that Barbara has not had "five" husbands, that she has never had cosmetic surgery, and that my "remainder-bin biographies of dead people" (most biographies are of dead people) have sold a quarter-million copies.

My recollection of our meeting 13 years ago is different, also.

I recall that she threatened to jump off Christie Blatchford's roof if I didn't hire her, and I said that "That would be an over-reaction." And when someone else said she wanted to show if she could fly, I said "So jump." But it doesn't much matter, and is no basis on which to embitter relations for 13 years. (My clearer memory of that party is of another female journalist who offered me sexual intercourse in exchange for an interview, an offer I declined with thanks and a commendation for her enterprise.)

Since my television interview with Toronto mayor Rob Ford two weeks ago, Mr. Ford has back-pedaled about the controversial claims he then made about Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale's 2012 visit to the periphery of Mr. Ford's property. (During our interview, Mr. Ford had said: "He's taking pictures of little kids. I don't want to say that word, but you start thinking 'what's this guy all about?')

Mr. Ford admitted he was only repeating what his neighbour told him he had seen Mr. Dale doing. (This aspect of Mr. Ford's account was the subject of the follow-up questions that DiManno, and CBC Radio host Carol Off and other members of the Star claque, have falsely claimed I did not ask.) Mr. Dale is avenged. The mayor is chastened for his factual liberties and reminded of the virtues of the truth and of moderation in all things. I got a good story. Moreover, I am — as I told the CBC I would be if the mayor's account proved inaccurate, despite my repeated questions — "disappointed" (to quote the chief of police of Toronto on a related subject).

Mr. Dale was traduced, but he was not defamed, by Mr. Ford's comments; and no one said anything about pedophilia except the Star and its allies. Ford's cascade of apologies has brought all those who have opined on this subject to the same place.

In another aspect of the Ford controversy, a number of people have angrily sent me copies of a letter that the disgraceful John Honderich — the chair of the board of Torstar Corporation (the Star's owner) and a former Star publisher — assumedly approved for distribution to 70 prominent Torontonians, urging them to agitate for the mayor's removal in mid-term, and taking them to task as moral outcasts of the community for not joining in the full Christmas revelry of the Star's attempted putsch.

Of course, Honderich has a perfect right to send letters to whomever he chooses — either directly, or by means of using Star reporter Marco Oved as his sock puppet (as he presumably has done in this case, since it was sent with, and in furtherance of, Honderich's own published editorial). He even has the right to strain the credulity and indulgence of addressees with the sophomoric tocsin: "The Star is reaching out … This is for the historical record … To be clear, we are asking specifically for your views on the mayor's political record, his behaviour and if he remains fit for office. We will be publishing the names and responses of all we contact. If you do not wish to respond, we appreciate if you would tell us why. If we receive no response, we will publish that also." But it is disgraceful behaviour, and Honderich and the Star owe an apology to all those whom they attempted to intimidate.

This letter-writing campaign was the sequel to Honderich's editorial comment on December 5 (copies of which were helpfully included with the 70 letters, so as to make clear whose clout, and whose threats, were behind the outreach campaign). In that column, he declared: "So where are Toronto's business, cultural, academic, and moral leaders when it comes to the Rob Ford saga? … The silence has been deafening. Where are the well-reasoned op-ed pieces in newspapers? Where are the full-page ads from concerned thought leaders?"

© 2024 Conrad Black