Christie Blatchford served with libel notice
The National Post columnist falsely defamed her and never contacted her to get her side of the story, says Tarrah McPherson.
Tarrah McPherson filed notice Thursday that she intends to sue Blatchford and Postmedia for a column that ran in The National Post and other Postmedia newspapers, online on March 17, 2017 and in print editions the next day. It bore the headline: “
Again, a man’s life left in ruins, while his sexual-assault accuser goes about hers.”
The column dealt with a highly publicized case of alleged sexual misconduct at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax. Instructor Michael
Kydd resigned after admitting to a sexual relationship with McPherson, who was then a student. The nature of that relationship is disputed.
Until today, McPherson has not identified herself publicly.
“I have tried to engage processes that should have respected the privacy and integrity of everyone involved — his [Kydd’s] family, my family, even the institutions involved,” writes McPherson in a statement given to the Halifax Examiner.
“I did not choose to name anyone publicly and I have fought for my right to privacy,” McPherson continues in the statement.
“However, now I have decided to sacrifice my privacy and attach my name to a Notice of Libel served on the National Post and Christie Blatchford.”
In her column, Blatchford “asserts that Mr. Kydd had a consensual sexual relationship with Ms. McPherson which ‘retrospectively morphed’ into misconduct complaints against Mr. Kydd,” Radnoff writes in the notice. “The relationship between Mr. Kydd and Ms. McPherson was not consensual. (Blatchford) also inaccurately suggests that Ms. McPherson wanted to attack or injure Mr. Kydd and dishonestly or inaccurately claimed, in order to accomplish this objective, that their relationship was not consensual.”
Blatchford wrote that “Postmedia has managed to confirm many significant details about Kydd’s case” in suggesting that the information in the article is accurate. She doesn’t name these sources or provide any information about them.
The notice served on Postmedia, The National Post, and Christie Blatchford on Thursday contains a laundry list of alleged faults with Blatchford’s column.
Click here to read the Notice
https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/featured/christie-blatchford-served-with-libel-notice/