CANADA
CBC News
By Jason Proctor, CBC News Posted: Jun 19, 2015
The Georgia Straight’s editor claims John Furlong conducted a sustained public relations attack on the paper and a reporter in the wake an article alleging the former Olympics CEO abused children at a Burns Lake Catholic school.
Testifying in B.C. Supreme Court, Charlie Smith said he believed Furlong never seriously intended to pursue a lawsuit he filed against the alternative weekly — and then dropped a year later.
“I always thought that was just a PR narrative,” he testified.
Freelance journalist Laura Robinson claims Furlong defamed her in his responses to the September 2012 article; the piece reported allegations of physical and verbal abuse against students at Immaculata school.
Robinson claims she suffered financially, emotionally and physically as a result of repeated accusations implying she is unprofessional, unethical and motivated by a personal vendetta.
Laura Robinson
Freelance journalist Laura Robinson claims John Furlong defamed her in his responses to her 2012 Georgia Straight article. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)
Although Furlong publicly announced legal action following the article’s publication, Smith said he never contacted the paper to say he was withdrawing his suit in October 2013.
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