Judi McLeod

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Judi Ann T. McLeod (born 1944) [1] is a Canadian journalist who operates the conservative news website Canada Free Press (CFP).

Contents

[edit] Early life and career

McLeod was born in Prince Edward Island]] and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her first article was published in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald when she was 18. [1]

[edit] Early career controversy

McLeod worked as a city-hall reporter in the Greater Toronto Area for the Brampton Times in 1981, where her husband was the managing editor. [1]

When she was removed from the beat in 1983, she alleged that conservatives she had accused of meddling in local politics had put pressure on the newspaper. When her husband reinstated her to the position, the newspaper fired them both. [2] The Globe and Mail reported that Canada's multiculturalism minister, Liberal MPP James Fleming, was investigating McLeod's removal from the beat. Fleming believed the reassignment amounted to initimdiation of a reporter doing her job. [3] The Ontario Federation of Labour, protested on McLeod's behalf against what they called political intervention. [3] Days after being fired, McLeod won the Edward J. Hayes Memorial Ontario award for beat-reporting. [2] [1] Broadcast journalist and panelist Peter Desbarats called her coverage the best of any in 22 Ontario dailies. [1] The McLeods subsequently filed a lawsuit against The Brampton Times for wrongful dismissal, but later withdrew it. [1] Judi McLeod also claimed to have filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission against the Brampton Times.[4]

[edit] Later employment

She helped found The Bramptonian as a rival to her former employer in 1984 [5] before moving to the Toronto Sun in 1985, where she was the paper's education reporter. Her columns were highly critical of New Democratic Party school trustees who dominated the Toronto Board of Education at the time. McLeod also called ethnic parents who wanted heritage language instruction "as diabolical as any of the characters from the imaginative pen of Charles Dickens... a nasty lot indeed," and warned people against "multiculturalism gone haywire."[6]

Fired from the Sun, she moved to Kingston, Ontario for three years where she worked as a reporter and columnist for the Kingston Whig-Standard , according to the Canada Free Press website. [3] In 1991, she returned to Toronto and founded, with help from Tony O'Donohue, Our Toronto, a right-wing monthly newspaper which focused on Toronto City Council. In the 2000s, Our Toronto Free Press evolved into the Canada Free Press, which is now published online only.

[edit] Areas of interest

American Politics, United Nation, Global Governance, crime, investigative news. Her Stories have been picked up on Major news sites like: The Drudge Report, Newsmax.com, Fox News, World Net Daily

[edit] Criticism

McLeod fell victim to a hoax in 2006 when she believed she had been exchanging emails with Hollywood actor Mel Gibson through a blog purportedly run by the actor, which was forced to acknowledge it was a satirical website. [4]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Johnson, William. "'Gutsy'" reporter McLeod gets the pink slip, The Globe and Mail, March 23, 1983. p. 8
  2. ^ Kashmeri, Zuhair. "Had criticized Brampton politics Reporter moved from beat: The Globe and Mail. January 27 1983, p. 3
  3. ^ a b Kashmeri, Zuhair. Reporter's reassignment investigated by Fleming. The Globe and Mail, February 3, 1983. p. CL8
  4. ^ No Byline. "Reporter fights to get beat back" The Globe and Mail, February 10 1983, p. 4 Article doesn't explain why McLeod thinks commission has authority to hear complaint or what possible grounds she has to bring it before commission.
  5. ^ No byline. "Year after firing by paper help to publish rival," The Globe and Mail, April 3, 1984, p. M5
  6. ^ Barber, John. School Board Jungle: "Racists!" shouts the left. "Commies!" the right. Is learning getting lost in the political feuding at the Toronto Board of Education? The Globe and Mail, Toronto Magazine, January 29 1988, p. 28; (ILLUS) "McLeod spends as much time damning conservative trustees who endorse any but the most extreme right-wing positions."

[edit] Further reading

  • Blatchford, Christie. "Tony's 2nd job; paid by Laidlaw to push projects," The Toronto Sun, December 16, 1994, p.5
  • Cooly, Glenn. "Rightist lauding Layton: Right-wing tab, Our Toronto, touts Jack Layton as class act. Jack Layton says bizarre new backing a surprise," Now Weekly, November 3/9, 1994
  • Di Matteo, Enzo. "Right-wing friends flee from tabloid's independent stance: Our Toronto faces ad drain and lawsuit by a high-profile founder," Now Weekly, November 17/23, 1994
  • Betty Disero Sees Hidden Enemies from Eye Weekly
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../j/u/d/Judi_McLeod_2e05.html"