ARLINGTON, VA / ACCESSWIRE / October 13, 2020 / Consortium News has sued the Canadian TV network Global News for defamation in federal court in Virginia over a report that said CN was part of a "cyber influence" campaign "directed" by Moscow against a Canadian leader. Consortium News was founded in 1995 by award-winning investigative journalist Robert Parry, who broke some of the biggest stories around the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980's.
The lawsuit accuses the Corus Entertainment-owned network of entering into a business conspiracy with the Canadian Communications Security Establishment (CSE)--Canada's NSA-to "link ...critics" of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland to "'Russia' as a way of discrediting those critics and protecting themselves."
The suit says: "Global received the storyline from CSE and then consciously regurgitated the preconceived narrative that it knew to be false. In its quest to paint Plaintiff as a 'Russian collaborator', Global abandoned journalistic integrity and ethics, misrepresented the content of CN's articles, and applied false labels to Plaintiff."
Parry, recipient of the George Polk Award, founded and set up the Consortium for Independent Journalism, Inc. a registered non-profit organization, which publishes Consortium News. It does not receive or accept a penny from any government, corporation or advertiser. It is totally funded by its readers. Its editorial decisions are independent.
Consortium News is today created by a consortium of journalists, academics, freelance writers, former intelligence agency professionals and an independent video producer. Most have served at the highest levels of their professions.
CN's editor Joe Lauria is a former Wall Street Journal correspondent. Its columnists include a former Asia editor for The International Herald Tribune; a professor of Middle East politics at the University of California; and two former Central Intelligence Agency officials. One delivered Oval Office briefings to President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush. The other led the capture of al-Qaeda militant Abu Zubaydah.
In January Consortium News sent libel notices to both Global News and the CSE, demanding an apology and retraction of Global News's Dec. 10, 2019 on-line article and video report. The CSE did not respond to the notice. Global News refused to retract all mention of CN from the article or to apologize.
To read the lawsuit and article please visit Consortium News.
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SOURCE: Consortium News