Thread by @JesseBrown

Last weekend, the biggest newspaper in Canada dedicated a 2-page spread in their A section to a takedown attempt on Desmond Cole.

Things got fucked-up even before it ran. Somebody leaked it to Jon Kay, who gleefully teased that The Star had explosive shit on Cole. (thread)

Sure enough, when the piece dropped it *looked* like heavy stuff. Heavy author: Royson James, The Star's most senior black voice. Heavy length, heavy art, heavy accusations. Such as... +

•Desmond "shattered" the Black community, which doesn't "like" him.
•Desmond has "blood on his hands" from launching "personal attacks."
•Desmond is a "vindictive, envious" "Judas," who "claims to love Black people" but who assaults his "own flesh and blood..." +

It's all very dramatic rhetoric. But what did Desmond Cole actually do?

Desmond's offence, we read, was a metaphorical "lynching" of a prominent Black judge, Donald McLeod.

Yikes! That does sound serious. So how did Desmond do that? +

Desmond wrote two blog posts about McLeod, questioning whether a sitting judge could also be a lobbyist. Other people filed complaints against the judge on this basis, and McLeod was put on paid leave by the Ontario Judicial Council as they assessed the complaints. +

The council ultimately found that the McLeod had indeed crossed the line, but not egregiously so, and he was reinstated. +

James insinuates that Cole did far worse - there's a description of Justice McLeod being entrapped & deceived on a phone call.

But after multiple readings, it's unclear if Cole is accused of doing the deceiving/ entrapping or if he simply listened to a recording for a story. +

Ultimately the framing of the piece & its hyperbolic language leave a more lasting & damning impression than any facts within it. Given that this is labelled an Opinion piece, James is I guess free to call Desmond whatever names he wants.

But here's the thing - he doesn't. +

James instead repeatedly puts the condemnation of Cole into the mouths of unnamed sources:

•“Cole’s opponents say..."

•“aggrieved citizens described.." +

•"highly charged words...unfurled within the Black community."

•"...swathes of the Black community (concluded) that McLeod’s blood was on Desmond Cole’s hands.” +

These anonymous "swathes" sure do seem to hate Desmond Cole!

Not Royson James though, he "loves" Desmond. +

There is an unsubtle personal subtext to this assault - James performs his own anguish over being forced to call out Desmond Cole, a young man who he previously "greased" a path for, back when Cole was briefly a Star columnist himself... +

As for James' own connections to McLeod and McLeod's lobby group....well, it's not really clear what he is disclosing about that, if anything. Do journalists usually protest 'I was only there as a journalist!' this frequently? +

The piece is so suggestive and so filled with unattributed character assassinations and so bereft of tangible facts as to render its marquee positioning in the front section of Canada's biggest newspaper highly dubious. +

And of course, The Star is a newspaper with its own score to settle with Desmond Cole... +

Look, Desmond Cole has earned some influence and power. And like any powerful voice, he must be scrutinized and challenged.

But if the full force of The Star's editorial apparatus is to be aimed squarely at Desmond's face....shouldn't they actually have something on him? +

Ultimately, Royson James' article is an act of journalistic malpractice. An abuse of the power of the press.

Discussed today with @LegalishCA canadaland.com/podcast/728-ca…