Columnists On The Take?

Columnists tend to write "opinion" pieces, and to a great extent that is the basis for blogging, and there is no question bias does creep in which is really just human nature. If I was for instance a sports writer I would expect better access to a team that gets more pillows than brickbats.

In accusing Sun columnists of being paid off, lawyer demonstrates slim grasp of Canada's libel laws
By MARK BONOKOSKI

Early in my career, specifically when I wrote a 12-part series on the rise of the Church of Scientology that had the Tom Cruises of that era in a tizzy, I learned some of the nuances of the libel laws in this country.

For example, if you write a letter to me calling me all sorts of libellous things, then you are perfectly within your rights to slag me.

and it goes on and on........

But do not copy that same letter to anyone else, as a senior Scientology official once did in an vain effort to sully my reputation.

If you do, you are technically publishing a libel.

Fast forward now to an e-mail recently sent to the Ontario Press Council, with a copy to me, as well as to the Sun's Peter Worthington and another columnist here, accusing the three of us of being on the take.

The third columnist goes unnamed because that columnist does not wish to give publicity or fodder for idle gossip where no credence is exists -- not even for the fun of it. And that, of course, is his prerogative.

Worthington, on the other hand, couldn't care less, seeing as how the ridiculousness of him being in anyone's pocket speaks for itself.

Ditto for Yours Truly.