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COVER STORY
`Lynch-ing" the Toronto Star: A case of mistaken identity
by Judi McLeod
June 2, 2003
It was a case of mistaken identity. Toronto Free Press/Canadafreepress.com confused with the mighty Toronto Star by a major U.S. television network.
It all started with the May 22 Fox News O’Reilly Factor. Touted as "The #1 primetime program on cable news," the O’Reilly Factor was probing "The Dispute Over Jessica Lynch’s Rescue."
A sort of defining moment of the U.S. war in Iraq, the dramatic rescue of Private Jessica Lynch by her peers, has Hollywood gaga. The rescue, conducted within the first days of the Iraq war, boosted American patriotism to an all-time high. But the BBC and the Toronto Star are charging that the Pentagon exaggerated the entire event, and the dispute over the facts of the Lynch rescue is taking on new dimensions of its own.
On the 22nd, Bill O’Reilly was interviewing Fox News Military Analyst Colonel David Hunt. Hunt was hot…"It’s outrageous. I’m on national television. I should calm down," he told O’Reilly in opening remarks.
"How should we as Americans react to this?" O’Reilly asked Hunt. "Should we be angry at these people, or what should we do, in your opinion?"
"As a minimum, you don’t want to buy The L.A. Times. You don’t want to look at the Toronto Free Press, and shut the BBC off", Hunt shot back.
How Toronto Free Press, archly pro-American, and staunchly against the Liberal-leaning Toronto Star ever got dragged into this mix is anybody’s guess.
O’Reilly believed Hunt, and never asked, "What is Toronto Free Press?"
"…You see, I’m trying to find out here--I believe you, Colonel, I have to say," said O’Reilly. "I mean, the colonel’s been with us, those who watch THE FACTOR, he has been with us from the very start of the war. His reports have been 100 percent accurate. We didn’t have to retract anything. When things go wrong, the colonel tells us. When things go right, the colonel tells us. He’s the guy who gave us the e-mail when he blew The New York Times and L.A. Times out of the water in the initial days of the war when they said we were losing."
When friends from Los Angeles originally called to tell us TFP had been a subject of the O’Reilly Factor, we thought they must have imbibed too many cocktails. To us, TFP on the O’Reilly Factor would be the equivalent of running into a Tasmanian devil on Yonge Street.
That was before the avalanche of e-mails, faxes, and letters.
Average American citizens, rightly rattled over more anti-American hype emanating from Canuckistan, began looking us up on the net to signal their outrage and anger by the hundreds.
…"Just like Toronto Free Press, Canada Free Press brings readers the best available in hard-hitting investigative journalism. So are they guilty of fraud?" Jean Stephens of Dayton, Ohio wrote in a letter to O’Reilly. "I, like Col. Hunt, am outraged. These papers say they report the truth and they should be held accountable. There are too many people relying on them."
By this time, TFP/CFP editor Judi McLeod was on a dedicated mission to track down Fox News executives in an effort to have them tell the truth, rectify this case of mistaken identity, and hopefully get an apology through the O’Reilly Factor.
Trying to reach executive types at Fox is the equivalent of trying to flag the Canadian government.
"…Fox News. We report. You decide," said the voice on the recorded message at Fox. The minute I was able to say ‘Hello’ to the first warm body that came on the line, she switched me over to another recorded message, this one advising me that Laci Peterson’s body had been found washed up on the shores of San Francisco Bay, and giving me the latest theories about Laci’s husband, Scott.
I was forced to play this round-the-mulberry-bush game several more times before ultimately finding a person who believed I had a genuine problem, rather than someone merely wanting to record a generic message about one of the Fox programs.
"Oh, I think I should put you through to our legal department," announced the young lady on the same other side of the line I had called for the umpteenth time.
"Hi, you’ve reached legal," said the voice in Foxs’ legal department. "I won’t be back until June 5th. If you want to leave a message, wait for the sound of the beep."
Finally realizing my chances were better flagging anti-American Prime Minister Jean Chretien in Ottawa, or out on the golf links, duffing along with Bill Clinton, I gave up on trying to reach anybody at the Fox News executive level.
Instead, I called my friend, the Washington-based Reed Irvine at Accuracy in Media, and spoke as well with Randy in Brent Bozzell’s office at the Media Research Center.
Both gentlemen probe inaccuracy in media. They sure have their work cut out for them, in my opinion.
That evening, I obtained the e-mail address of Col. David Hunt from CFP military analyst John Thompson.
At midnight, the colonel responded to my complaint by e-mail. "I will correct this mistake immediately," he said. "I was having a senior moment."
Yes, it would take a "senior moment" to mistake Toronto Free Press for the Toronto Star.
Meanwhile, for all you angry Yanks: The anti-American Toronto Star is the appropriate target of your wrath. You can send your e-mails to lettertoed@thestar.ca.
Canada Free Press founding editor Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck and The Rant. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
