Toronto Star reporter pursues legal action against Toronto Mayor
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Daniel Dale, a reporter for the Toronto Star, served notice on Thursday to Rob Ford, the Mayor of Toronto, Ontario in Canada, of libel proceedings based on allegedly defamatory comments made by Mayor Ford against Mr. Dale on the VisionTV program "theZoomer", broadcast on Monday.
During the interview, Ford is alleged to have made an insinuation of Dale based upon an incident that took place on May 2, 2012. In describing the incident, Ford said, "I have little kids. When a guy is taking pictures of little kids, I don't want to say the word, but you start thinking, you know, what's this guy all about?"
Thursday morning, Ford described the 2012 incident in similar terms on a Washington, D.C. sports radio program.
In an editorial posted to the Toronto Star website, Dale says "I'm a non-confrontational guy, and I just wanted to write articles and go home. I didn't want to be goaded into a legal battle that could last a long time."
A statement issued by ZoomerMedia, owners of VisionTV, states they will not be making further comment until such time as they are able to speak to their attorneys, as there is now a threat of legal action. The office of the Mayor has not responded to a request from Wikinews for comment in the matter.
This story has updates
See Toronto Mayor responds to libel notice from Toronto Star reporter, December 18, 2013
Sources
- Daniel Dale. "Rob Ford: Daniel Dale tells us why he’s taking legal action" — Toronto Star, December 12, 2013
- Robyn Doolittle, Tim Alamenciak. "Rob Ford: Reporter Daniel Dale files libel notice against Toronto mayor" — Toronto Star, December 12, 2013
- "Full text: Daniel Dale’s libel notice against Toronto Mayor Rob Ford" — The Globe and Mail, December 12, 2013