Toronto Star praised for investigative scoop about citys mayor Bravo, Toronto Star. Were very much in your debt. That handsome tribute comes from John Gordon Miller, on his journalism doctor blog, because of the papers dogged investigative journalism in exposing the bizarre behaviour of Torontos mayor, Rob Ford. It was on 16 May this year that the Star first reported, under the headline Rob Ford in crack cocaine video scandal that Ford might have a substance abuse problem. The revelation followed a two-month investigation by the papers investigative editor Kevin Donovan and reporter Robyn Doolittle. They reported that a video appearing to show Ford smoking crack cocaine was being shopped around Toronto by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade. Over the following months, Ford suggested that the Star was waging a political vendetta against him. There were official denials that no such tape existed. But the Star pursued the story, sometimes in company with the New York-based site, Gawker. Along the way the Star reported that Ford had twice been drunk in public. There were also allegations of criminal activity, including extortion and bribery. It wasnt until this weekend that Ford made a limited apology for what he called mistakes for being hammered. He refused to talk about the drug-taking video, saying he couldnt comment on a tape he had not seen. Canadian police have since confirmed that they have obtained a copy of the video, which they recovered from a computer during their investigation into an associate of the mayor, and his occasional driver, who is suspected of drug-dealing. Miller is full of praise for the Stars work as a courageous watchdog in the publics interest. He writes: Seldom in recent memory has a newspaper owned a story as thoroughly as the Star owns the Rob Ford exposé. He points out that the paper achieved its investigative scoop despite staff cutbacks: What sets the Star apart is that it chose to keep its superb investigative unit, headed by Kevin Donovan, largely intact. It says much for his professionalism that Donovan felt able to explain how he and Doolittle obtained their story via a confidential source Miller concludes: Its a mark of the Stars influence that all four of the citys major newspapers - even the Toronto Sun, which has served as the Pravda of Ford Nation - are now calling for him to step aside.b
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 11:04:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015