12.13.2011 01:00 AM

In today’s Sun: bullies for you

It’s a journalist’s job to be skeptical, and to raise differing points of view, without fear or favour.

When a broad consensus is reached on an issue — in this case, bullying — it’s right for media folks to offer up contrary points of view. Dissent is a good thing, particularly when only one point of view is dominating.

This fall, there has been an avalanche of coverage about bullying in Canada. Every paper and every broadcast, it seems, has had investigations into the nature and extent of bullying. Many of the stories have detailed the tragic tales of teenagers who, after being subjected to bullying, chose to take their own lives.

Politicians have picked up on the media’s refrain. On Parliament Hill, and at provincial legislatures, politicians of every stripe have come together to denounce bullying, or to suggest measures to counter it. Some of the politicians haven’t necessarily practiced what they preached — like those federal Conservatives who have claimed to oppose homophobic bullying, while simultaneously opposing laws that would give gays true equality — but it has been nice to see the unanimous denunciations of bullying.

18 Comments

  1. TheSilentObserver says:

    Kenney, Warren (from the Citizen) are a type of Catholic taliban no better the the real or alleged Islamists the former seems to fear within Canada

  2. Kevin says:

    It’s part of my stress management regime never to read anything by or about David Warren. However, since I always read your material, I made an exception this time. Thanks – you’ve just confirmed the wisdom of my regime.

  3. Michael S says:

    David Warren’s article is a classic bully’s lament.

  4. MC says:

    Is it worth noting a few other things about Warren? For example, the Ontario Press Council was “persuaded that the columnist failed to meet generally accepted journalistic standards relating to attribution by either:

(a) using the words or assertions of another author or spokesperson without revealing that the words were not his own; and

(b) misusing the words or assertions of an unidentified author or spokesperson by failing to quote them fully and/or accurately.”

    That’s in addition to a series of (very reluctant) retractions of false information – including material that had circulated on extremist sites and in chain email (and had been debunked years before Warren “reported” them).

    The retractions themselves are interesting as a measure of Warren’s “moral” character. Compare the retraction in the link at the end of the first item with the version of the article he posted on his website, in which he removed it:

    http://www.regrettheerror.com/2008/03/04/mea-culpa-mea-culpa/

    http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/index.php?id=847

    Mr. Warren didn’t appreciate readers pointing out falsehoods or asking that he properly identify sources and attribute material. Indeed he complained a great deal about it, and described it as “bullying”.

  5. In the system says:

    Unanimous, with the exception of the wonderful and possibly insane Christie Blatchford. I shan’t link to her latest at the Post, as I’ve no wish to make it easy to find.

  6. TheSilentObserver says:

    The “traditional definition of marriage” is such an increasingly banal concept, it would be like telling Nellie McClung and Agnes MacPhail to their faces that you favour the traditional definition of voter

  7. TheSilentObserver says:

    The “traditional definition of marriage” is really quite a banal concept. Imagine, saying to women in response to the suffragette movement that you favour the traditional definition of voter, or saying to a newly landed immigrant that you believe in the traditional definition of Canadian

  8. Potluck says:

    LGBTQ are the 21st century Jews. While for the most part it has become inappropriate to engage in public anti-Semitic behavior, it seems more than fine for homophobes , well to be homophobes.

    I am bowled over after reading Warren and Blatchford, more so after hearing religious leaders like McVety and Rabbi Caplan venting their spleen on LGBTQ, never mind that both have made ugly and bigoted statements against gay,s and lesbians. And we all just remain quiet.

  9. MC says:

    One other tidbit about Warren; of course he also opposes a woman’s right to choose (you know, the traditional family), but he doesn’t believe fathers should actually support their kids. Here he is proclaiming proudly that he’s on Ontario’s ‘Deadbeat Dad’ list:

    http://www.westernstandard.ca/website/article.php?id=2324

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