CANADA
The Province
BY KEITH FRASER, THE PROVINCE JUNE 16, 2015
Laura Robinson says she was shocked and devastated by the reaction of Vancouver Olympic CEO John Furlong to an article she wrote alleging he’d physically abused former students in northern B.C. more than 40 years ago.
The Ontario freelance journalist began her testimony Tuesday at the trial at which she is alleging Furlong defamed her following the September 2012 story in the Georgia Straight newspaper.
A day after the article was published, Furlong held a press conference at which he said he was “very disappointed” by the “shocking lack of diligence” that Robinson had done in researching the article.
“I was completely shocked,” Robinson said of her own reaction to Furlong’s statement.
“It affected me in a very devastating way that someone would say those things about me.”
Under questioning from her lawyer, Bryan Baynham, Robinson said that from the very beginning she and Charlie Smith, the editor at the Georgia Straight, knew it was going to be “ very difficult” story to research and tell.
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