'Gay' blog post was just not fair
I'm aware then, that by drawing attention in this column to a controversial comment that emerged this week on Zerbisias's blog, I am alerting a far larger audience to what I think is an unfortunate misstep on Zerbisias's part and an embarrassment for the Star.
First, this column is intended to address publicly the valid concerns of the Canadian Jewish Congress, whose chief executive officer, Bernie Farber, was the subject of a Zerbisias blog post that was tasteless and fell short of the Star's standards of fairness, accuracy and civility. That's a view shared by publisher John Cruickshank.
Second, this incident underscores the pressing need for clear "rules of engagement" for Star journalists using social media tools such as blogs and Twitter, where a no-holds-barred style of "new journalism" is emerging.
I understand these digital tools offer new ways of communicating with readers. But I think maintaining the Star's credibility in this new media world demands that fair play, common sense and good journalistic judgment must matter as much in the Star's digital spaces as its printed pages.
Cruickshank regards these new social media tools as a means of "narrowcasting" to far smaller, self-selecting audiences, compared with the broad-based readership of Canada's largest newspaper. But, he stresses, that doesn't mean anything goes in cyberspace.
"If Star writers are producing blogs on the Star site, they need to follow the same ethical and professional rules that guide us in print.
"Columnists have wide scope to express opinions. But they don't have the right to stereotype or scapegoat. And they must be accurate, fair and civil."
That certainly wasn't the case with Zerbisias's blog post about Farber this week. It's distasteful to me to repeat what she wrote, but context – and making public amends to Farber – demands it.
Briefly: A discussion ensued on Zerbisias's blog about the controversy over participation in this year's Pride Week parade by the group Queers Against Israel Apartheid (QAIA). A blog commenter named Susan stated that the CJC did not attempt to stop QAIA from marching in the Pride parade and, in fact, had participated in the parade.
Indeed, Farber, though he had stated on CBC Radio that "politics" did not belong in the parade, did join the parade. He marched with Kulanu Toronto, which describes itself as a Jewish social group for the gay community.
Here's what Zerbisias wrote: "Yes Susan, imagine my surprise when I saw Bernie Farber identifying himself as queer by joining a pro-Israel gay rights group in the parade. Funny, because I had never seen him in the march before.
"Funny because I didn't know he was gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that."
Farber is not gay, as was made clear in several subsequent comments Zerbisias herself allowed to be posted on her blog. Those commenters praised the CJC head for being "gay positive."
Zerbisias knows Farber is not gay. She says she intended the post to be "ironic" and she expected he would know that.
Understandably, Farber doesn't accept that. Further, I think Zerbisias's ambiguous words forced him into the awkward position of having to make clear that he is not gay, while also affirming that "I take no offence at being misidentified as gay.
"I am offended, however, at the fact that a professional journalist would simply make up information of any sort and post it publicly," he said.
Though Zerbisias's blog averages around 900 hits a day, the power of the Internet to make messages "go viral" means that numerous people from across Canada alerted Farber to this posting. The issue was subsequently discussed by the CJC's executive committee, concerned that inaccurate information about Farber was "published under the Star banner."
"I have received numerous concerns from Jewish gays and lesbians who wonder why Ms. Zerbisias would identify people attending the parade in any fashion," Farber later told me.
I commend Zerbisias's gusto in embracing the tools of new media such as blogs and Twitter. But, as I told Farber, I don't think she, or any other journalist writing "under the Star banner," should have free rein to write anything they please in this new world where civil discourse too often seems lost in invective and notions of absolute free speech.
I'm certain this sarcastic nonsense about Farber would never have been published in this newspaper, due to the newsroom's long-established editorial oversight of all copy before publication.
But not everything published on the Star's blogs is edited. That's why it's important that those who blog or Twitter for the Star use common sense and keep the Star's journalistic principles firmly in mind.
The Star's current policy says anything published in the Star, whether in the paper or online in blogs or Twitter feeds, must abide by the professional and journalistic standards the Star has long strived to uphold. As well, blogs by Star journalists "may not put the Star in a negative light."
Clearly, that wasn't the case with Zerbisias's blog this week.
Queer Tee For The Straight Jew [Mark Steyn]
I'm not gay, I just falsely claim to be, and then complain about being taken at my word.
The etiquette of political correctness grows ever more complex. See if you can follow this:
1) It is now all but mandatory for all kinds of non-gay bigwigs - pandering pols and whatnot - to march in the Gay Pride parade. So, when it emerged that Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (because we all know what a great shake homosexuals get under Islam) would be marching in the Toronto Pride parade, the head honcho of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Bernie Farber, decided he had to be there also.
2) Entering into the spirit of the event, the non-gay Mr Farber marched in the parade wearing a T-shirt emblazoned, "Nobody knows I'm gay."
3) Also entering into the spirit of things, an allegedly waggish feminist columnist at The Toronto Star wrote tongue in cheek of her surprise at seeing Mr Farber coming out: "I didn't know he was gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that."
4) After consulting with fellow executives at the Canadian Jewish Congress, Mr Farber sends a formal letter of complaint objecting to The Toronto Star falsely identifying him as gay while being at pains to add that "I take no offence at being misidentified as gay."
5) Despite the fact that Mr Farber was the first to misidentify himself as gay, the newspaper's ombudswoman devotes an entire column to a characteristically pompous media-ethics snoozefest denouncing the offending columnist for being "tasteless" and getting the paper's apparently brain-dead publisher (my old boss at The Chicago Sun-Times) to do a lot of plonking pro-forma huffing about how the item "fell short of the Star's standards of accuracy, fairness and civility", and reassuring readers that in future systems will be put in place to ensure that the paper is even more unreadable ...whoops, sorry, I mean, systems will be put in place to ensure that non-gays claiming to be gay are not taken at their word without having their gay status confirmed by gay-accredited orientation-checkers. Whatever.
Meanwhile, a pro-gay pro-Palestinian website thinks that what happened is that Mr Farber and a bunch of other straight Zionists marched in the parade deliberately to subvert the event's pro-gay/anti-Zionist solidarity. (I think I've got that right.) But the whole sinister plot was scuttled by the uptight Jews' "gay panic".
If that's true, the International Zionist Conspiracy sure ain't what it used to be. Other commentators may be closer to the truth when they suggest Bernie Farber is too dumb to be Jewish.
My own interest in this derives entirely from the fact that Bernie Farber is Canada's most zealous supporter of the thought-police at the "human rights" commission. It would be nice to think the CJC and The Toronto Star could file "human rights" complaints against each other over this until the entire system collapses.
07/12 11:47 AM
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