Peter Worthington
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Peter Worthington (born February 16, 1927) is a Canadian journalist. A foreign correspondent with the Toronto Telegram newspaper from 1956, Worthington was an eyewitness to the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963, and can be seen in photographs of the event. He remained with the Telegram until it folded in 1971. Worthington was the founding editor of the Toronto Sun newspaper, which was created by former Telegram employees upon that newspaper's demise.
A conservative, Worthington led the brash new tabloid throughout the 1970s as it campaigned against the government of Pierre Trudeau. At one point he was jailed after being accused of violating the Official Secrets Act.
Following the 1981 police raid of gay bathouses in Toronto, Worthington, in an editorial and again in an interview with CBC Radio's Sunday Morning threatened to publish the name of future found-ins.[1]
Worthington stepped down as editor of the Sun in order to enter politics in the 1982. He sought the nomination of the Progressive Conservative Party for a by-election in Toronto's Broadview—Greenwood riding, but was defeated in a hotly contested race in which the six candidates sold thousands of party memberships. Worthington lost the nomination to Bill Fatsis, who was supported by the riding's large Greek-Canadian population. Worthington then ran as an independent candidate, and placed a strong second to the winner, New Democrat Lynn McDonald. He succeeded in becoming the official Progressive Conservative candidate for the riding in the 1984 general election, but was again defeated by McDonald.
The son of Major-General Frank F. Worthington, Peter Worthington is a veteran of both the Second World War and the Korean War. He served as an air gunner with the Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy in the first conflict, and as an intelligence officer in the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) in Korea.
He received a B.A. from the University of British Columbia and a bachelor's in journalism at Carleton University.[1]
Worthington has often been controversial. He was fired from the Sun in the late 1980s after having commented that it was not a serious newspaper. He returned to the paper some years later.
Worthington was criticized when it was revealed that he had informed to the American Federal Bureau of Investigation about the suspected political sympathies of a number of his friends including June Callwood.[2][3]
Worthington is the step-father of conservative writer Danielle Crittenden, and is thereby David Frum's father-in-law.
[edit] References
- ^ Sunday Morning, documentary on the raids by Terrence McKenna including in interview with Worthington aired on February 15, 1981.
- ^ "Writer feels 'betrayed' over name on FBI list" by Jane Armstrong and Dale Brazao, Toronto Star, page A22, September 28, 1989
- ^ "Worthington was informant for FBI, documents reveal", Toronto Star, page A22, September 28, 1989
