I find the Star a banal, middle-brow newspaper which is the bearer of some interesting traditions of reform advocacy and some lively writing; but in the current crisis of the industry and in the hands of its present and recent leadership it has atrophied, and is now like a decrepit Jurassic monster, with failing sight and palsied limb that yet comes snorting out of the undergrowth occasionally in pursuit of some misconceived or conjured cause. Some of the reporters are competent but most of the columnists are nasty, as dull as dried parsley, and many of them can’t write.
h/t David Southam
That was definitely Black unleashed, and it was a wonderful thing to behold.
Well and truly said M’Lord.
Damn, can that guy write! And to think this used to be the literary standard of journalism, political speeches and public discourse generally. We are materially wealthier but not intellectually richer than we once were.
And materially, Black knocks it out of the park as usual. The Star is a rag. Black said as much, but far more eloquently.
He has such a classy way of laying on an insult, calling them out. Love it!
Love it. Bravo Conrad Black!
Reading Lord Black’s writing is like taking a nap of the earth helicopter ride….an exciting pleasure to read. Thank you Sir and I certainly am in agreement with you.
Is he calling the Star a pedophile? Lawsuit!
Gotta remember that word “claque.”
Imagine, a newspaperman who is a true journalist.
Black is brilliant whether or not you agree with him…I agree.
He can tell a person to go to hell in such a brilliant way that they look forward to the trip.
Nice.
CAS
So now the question is why is the individual suing….is it simply to get disclosure and go fishing.
Going to be worse the other way around I suspect. Any relevant email that existed with the Star organization relating to this guy being assigned should be within purview. Maybe those emails completely confirm his story that he was there to cover the mayors purchase of land. Maybe not.
Even if they do it doenst change Fords reasonable expectation that there is a guy lurking in the forest behind his home with a camera. Even if it is public land, I mean how long was the guy there for? Certainly enough time for him to be noticed, the cops to be called and for them to show up. That isnt a minute, how long does it take to get a picture?
Once again, even if it is private land. I back on to a park and I would be calling the cops if someone was hanging around my back fence with a camera. Just like I would call the cops if they were hanging around my front yard on the street with a camera with no good reason.
A Camera can be an invasive thing, and it takes but a second for it to be turned on the house.
Ford has reasonable grounds to be suspicious of someone with a camera in the woods behind his house. He would as a private citizen and definitely would as a public figure.
Dale could have simply said he would leave but chose to go through a confrontation with Ford. Repeat, chose to, nobody held him back. So publish Dales home address and go hang around his house, condo, apartment with a camera and see what happens.
Bet the cops get called, bet the cops ask you to move on even thoguh its your right to be in a public space.
This may well backfire.
I wish that I lived in Toronto again (not really) so that I could go to Dale’s house and lurk around.
There was a time I thought of Black as a pompous ass, but back then I also thought journalists were neutral conveyors of facts without strong bias and wild speculations. Like I said, that was long ago. Today I see Black as one of the few great journalists and the mass media as juvenile liberal gossip mongers lashing out at any attack on their personal windmills. Whether its Trudeau, Obama, IPCC,Gore, Suzuki,The UN, Mandela, Global warming etc., I wish we had a equal number of Black’s to counter the the massive void in critical thinking represented by the Star, CBC and so many others. Long may he reign.
I’m guessing this lawsuit will not get past the discovery stage.
Thin-skinned journalists usually have a short shelf life.
Well, FWIW, Ms. DiManno’s response is here:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/12/16/conrad_black_has_earned_his_fresh_dose_of_ridicule_dimanno.html#
I’m not just sure why this would appear in the GTA News section, as opposed to the opinion/editorial section: the behaviour of CBC and the Toronto Star, at least, is a matter of concern for folks well beyond the GTA, but maybe the Star is trying to keep this local, or something.
But no matter: I think Ms. DiManno’s response is angry and petty and replete with “[insert name of conservative target here] derangement syndrome”, but form your own judgment. I particularly don’t understand the last bit, about sitting on the roof and doing shooters and yelling at Conrad to stay at the party later or you’d jump, and then getting mad because he says go ahead and jump: that’s a selfie in words, which has the net effect of making Ms. DiManno look like an angry, petty and deranged sixteen-year-old. Can’t she control herself on any level?
Aside from which, the key point of Conrad’s piece is this, I would have thought:
“Occasionally…the media’s lack of professional self-discipline spikes up into a societal problem that is more than just a mere nuisance, as it has on this occasion.”
It rather seems to me that that is a pretty serious charge to which the Toronto Star needs to respond with something more than name-calling. Obviously, Mr. Black knew in advance what to expect, and goaded Ms. DiManno, et al, into meeting that expectation.
“a coarse, vapid blunderbuss” what an excellent put-down.
In any battle between The Star and Lord Black he is the only adult present.
Hard for him to look good though — he’ll be in a battle of wits with unarmed opponents.
Most people capable of reasoned thought would worry about anyone, journalist or whatever, lurking around their back yard taking pictures. Even more so if they have young kids. This Dale dude may regret his decision to sue,people have a right to privacy in their own home space, even those in public office.
Vintage Black. I wish I could write even half as well as he can. Ford’s a buffoon but – so far – he’s an uncharged and therefore presumed innocent buffoon. Anybody want to make book on his chances of getting reelected? If the left runs 2 strong candidates against him I predict he’ll walk to victory again.
Rosie Demento and Heather Malice.. The Star sure knows how to get levelheaded reporters
The best sting in the whole article was the broad hint that Blair was playing footsie with the media because Ford chopped $21 million out of the police budget. That one’s gonna leave a mark. The flat-feet don’t like it when their little city-hall political games come to light.
From David Southam’s link:
“His singular lack of skill in this most basic reportorial function was on grotesque display last week whilst “chatting” — Black doesn’t call these puffball exchanges interviews — with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford on his Zoomer show, an excruciatingly embarrassing episode that should be shown to J-students as instructive lesson on how not to do it.”
This Ford issue had got the Star so twisted in knots, they’re now arguing against soft-ball interviews of politicians.
Hmmmm, I wonder how stridently they’ll stick to that position in the future.
What Toronto needs is someone to carry the Ford agenda forward but is an untouchable Mormon.
Kudos to Conrad!
Bully for Black!
Lauds to the Lord!
Conrad Black traitorously turned his back on his country. Who the hell gives up their Canadian citizenship?
Regardless of my agreement with his sentiments (and I do wholeheartedly agree with him about the Red Star), the man is a convicted criminal who turned his back on his country when it suited him out of spite. “True Patriot Love” indeed!
Good riddance to him. He has shown his colours – and they are not red and white!
Well said Conrad Black and Peterj @ 1:30.
The Star has become nothing but a rabid leftist rag, much like MSNBC is in the visual media.
When it comes down to denigrating twerp and turds, Conrad Black does a hell of a job.
But if you want them stripped down bare naked and made the laughing stock of the Universe, you better call up up the Steynmeister.
Speaking of rabid.
In November, the Star ran several articles about “kindness” versus “meanness”, favouring the former and opposing the latter.
So naturally one letter to the editor commented, “you mean like the way you’ve treated Mayor Rob Ford for the past three years?”
“Lord” Conrad is a detestable scourge, although falsely convicted by the ever-grasping, and infinitely more detestable US “justice” system, with whom I agree with occasionally.
This is one of those occasions.
“Conrad Black traitorously turned his back on his country.”
Uh uh. The Librano Cretin gave him an ultimatum: not accept the life peerage offered to him (Black holds dual citizenship — or did until this Librano debacle) and hold onto his Canadian citizenship or accept the life peerage and lose his Canadian citizenship.
It was mean and vindictive of Canada’s Francophile, Leftard PM to force Conrad Black to make a decision he should never have been asked to make. Other Canadians like Lord Thomson of Fleet were never faced with such an ultimatum.
Lord Black wields the written word like a swordsman with a surgeon’s touch.
I often find Black. little too wordy, too proud of his vocabulary, or maybe just trying too hard but then something like this: “a decrepit Jurassic monster, with failing sight and palsied limb that yet comes snorting out of the undergrowth occasionally in pursuit of some misconceived or conjured cause”, and the genius shines through.
Aye.
Concision: old Athapaskan word meaning “say more, talk less”. 😉
“It was mean and vindictive of Canada’s Francophile, Leftard PM to force Conrad Black to make a decision he should never have been asked to make.”
Maybe so – but unfortunately, the decision he made was that his ego was worth more than his patriotism. The tingle he got from being called “Lord Black” was worth more than the pride of being called a Canadian.
That is the height of odiousness. We should never have accepted him back into the country; he is not a Canadian.
Give yourself a shake, Dante.
Conrad Black was so “unpatriotic” that he gave Canada the only newspaper willing to take on the monolithic Leftist media Canadians had had to put up with until the establishment of the National Post.
I’m a patriotic Canadian and I have no problem with what Lord Black of Crossharbour did. I have a huge problem with the unpatriotic Cretin of Doublecross, whose party robbed Canadian taxpayers blind and never paid back what they owe us.