Media as judge and jury

I hesitate to post again about the recent police shooting incident in Toronto, for a couple of reasons.  First, the story has undoubtedly fallen off the news pages in most of the world, and the majority of readers of this blog live outside Canada.  Second, it remains a very emotive issue in the Toronto area, and it's very hard to say anything without running the risk of offending someone.

Still and all, this disgraceful opinion piece by Rosie DiManno in today's Toronto Star cannot be allowed to pass unremarked.  It's interesting to note that the paper's website is not allowing any reader comments, which suggests that the article may have prompted some intemperate responses.

And it would be hard to be surprised if that were the case.  What DiManno has done is to voice the possibility, in the complete and utter absence of even a shred of evidence, that the police officer now facing second degree murder charges, James Forcillo, may have been under the influence of drugs at the time of the shooting.  Oh sure, the article says a couple of times, and in bold print yet, that there's no evidence for this, but if that's the case, why run the story?  This unsubstantiated insinuation has now been, to use a legal expression, "read into the record", there to sit and fester for the many months it is likely to take for this tragic matter to come to trial.

Lawyers have already warned that Forcillo's defense counsel may attempt to besmirch the character of the victim, Sammy Yatim.  Given that Yatim exposed himself on a streetcar and threatened the passengers with a knife, and given that the terrified passenger who summoned the police told the despatcher "a guy on a streetcar just tried to kill me", you might not think such a tactic would be necessary. That hasn't stopped the Star, in particular, from running numerous hagiographic articles about Yatim; now, it seems, they want to tip the scales of justice further by stirring up hatred for the accused.

We see far too much of this garbage in the Toronto Star these days.  Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is the paper's favoured target when it comes to smear tactics, but it looks as if Constable Forcillo and his family had better prepare themselves for a steady tide of abuse as the trial date approaches.  It's just about the lowest form of journalism, and the Star should be ashamed of itself.