Jump to content

Christie Blatchford

Page semi-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Lugnuts (talk | contribs) at 18:16, 12 February 2020 (Adding local short description: "Canadian journalist", overriding Wikidata description "Canadian journalist" (Shortdesc helper)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Christie Blatchford
Blatchford on November 21, 2008
Born
Christie Marie Blatchford[1]

(1951-05-20)May 20, 1951[2]
Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec
DiedFebruary 12, 2020(2020-02-12) (aged 68)
Toronto, Canada
Occupation(s)newspaper columnist and broadcaster
Notable credit(s)Toronto Sun, National Post, The Globe and Mail

Christie Marie Blatchford (May 20, 1951 – February 12, 2020) was a Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster. She published four non-fiction books.

Life and work

Blatchford was born in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec,[2] living there until her family moved to Toronto during grade 11. She attended North Toronto Collegiate Institute, graduating in 1970.[3] She then studied journalism at Ryerson University, and worked for the student paper The Ryersonian.[4] Her nephew is sports reporter Andy Blatchford.[5]

Blatchford had a number of journalists in her family. Her grandfather, Andy Lytle was a sports writer and editor for the Vancouver Sun in the 1920s and again in the 1950s and a sports editor at the Toronto Daily Star in the 1930s and 1940s. Her uncle, Tommy Lytle, was a Toronto Star editor until his retirement in 1974.[6]

She began working part-time for The Globe and Mail in 1972, while still studying journalism at Ryerson, and was hired full-time a year later, working as a sports reporter and then sports columnist at the paper from 1973 through 1977, where she was billed as Canada's first female sports columnist and was at the time one of only six female sports reporters in North America.[7][6] Displeased when a Globe column was edited against her wishes, she then abruptly jumped to the competing Toronto Star, where she worked as a feature writer from 1977 to 1982, and began covering criminal trials in 1978, a beat she would return to throughout her career.[6]

Looking to transition from a news reporter to a columnist, she proposed a light humour column to the Toronto Sun in 1982, chronicling her new relationship with a younger boyfriend, as well as her interactions with other friends and family.[2] The Sun agreed to the proposal, although at a pay cut from her rate at the Star. Blatchford remained at the Sun for 16 years, eventually transitioning back into news reporting and harder news features.

In 1998, Blatchford moved to the newly launched National Post. In 1999, she received the National Newspaper Award for column writing.[8] She left the Post to return to The Globe and Mail in 2003, working as a columnist there for eight years.[6]

During four trips to Afghanistan in 2006–07,[9] she reported on the experiences of Canadian soldiers. Based on these experiences, she wrote the book Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army. The book went on to garner the 2008 Governor General's Literary Award in Non-fiction.[10]

She returned once again to the National Post in 2011 and would remain there for the rest of her career.[10] She was also a frequent panelist, commentator, contributor and guest on CFRB radio for several decades.[6]

Blatchford's book Helpless: Caledonia's Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How the Law Failed All of Us, concerning the Grand River land dispute, led to some controversy including several members of the student body of the University of Waterloo protesting her speaking engagement and leading to its being cancelled on grounds of security.[11]

In an article in the National Post online on August 22, 2011, she criticized the outpouring of support resulting from the death of federal NDP Leader and the Parliament of Canada's Leader of the Opposition Jack Layton, calling it "a public spectacle",[12] and referring to Layton's "canonization". This caused an outcry toward Blatchford herself.[13] Blatchford's commentary on the 2013 suicide of Rehtaeh Parsons also led to Parsons' father accusing Blatchford of victim blaming.[14]

Illness and death

After having to cut short her assignment covering the 2019 federal election campaign due to nagging muscle pain, Blatchford was diagnosed in November 2019 with lung cancer which was found to have metastasized to bones in the spine and hip by the time it was detected. Blatchford was inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame the same month, but was unable to attend the ceremony.[6][7]

She took leave from writing her column in order to undergo treatment at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and died of the disease after several months of surgeries and chemotherapy.[6][7][15] She died in Toronto on February 12, 2020.[16]

Bibliography

Non-fiction

Humour

In the 1980s, Blatchford published two collections of her humour-oriented Toronto Sun columns.

  • Spectator Sports (1986)
  • Close Encounters (1988)

Reportage

Beginning in 2007, Blatchford began publishing book-length non-fiction reportage.

  • Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army (2007)
  • The Black Hand: The Bloody Rise and Redemption of "Boxer" Enriquez, a Mexican Mob Killer (2008)
  • Helpless: Caledonia's Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How the Law Failed All of Us (2010)
  • Life Sentence: Stories From Four Decades of Court Reporting - Or, How I Fell Out of Love with the Canadian Justice System (2016)


See also

References

  1. ^ Humphreys, Adrian. "Dead at 68: Christie Blatchford was a tenacious voice for victims, a thorn to the smug". National Post. No. February 12, 2020. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Coulter, Diana (spring 1984). "Blatchford Behind the Byline: When it comes to the real Christie Blatchford, reading is not believing Archived 2012-03-27 at the Wayback Machine", Ryerson Review of Journalism. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  3. ^ "Foundation News" (PDF). North Toronto Collegiate alumni newsletter.
  4. ^ "Blatchford Behind the Byline :: Ryerson Review of Journalism :: The Ryerson School of Journalism". Rrj.ca. 1951-05-20. Archived from the original on 2012-03-27. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
  5. ^ "In a lovely land I barely know, my dysfunctional home". Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Szklarski, Cassandra (February 12, 2020). "Long-time newspaper columnist Christie Blatchford dies at 68". Globe and Mail. Canadian Press. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  7. ^ a b c Braun, Liz (February 12, 2020). "Iconic Canadian journalist Christie Blatchford dies at age 68". Toronto Sun. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  8. ^ (June 1, 2011). "Journalist Christie Blatchford leaves Globe and Mail for Postmedia", Toronto Star. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  9. ^ Blatchford, Christie (June 25, 2011). "Christie Blatchford: Surrounded by our troops, I’ve never felt so alive Archived 2012-07-18 at archive.today", National Post. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  10. ^ a b (June 1, 2011). "News veteran Christie Blatchford joins Postmedia", CBC News. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  11. ^ National Post web site
  12. ^ Blatchford, Christie (August 22, 2011). "Full Comment: Layton's death turns into a thoroughly public spectacle". National Post. Archived from the original on December 25, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2011.
  13. ^ Mac, Amber (August 24, 2011). "Layton’s death reveals the good, the bad and the ugly online", The Globe and Mail. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
  14. ^ Allison Cross, "‘It’s always about the victim’: Rehtaeh Parsons’ father responds to Christie Blatchford’s column," National Post, February 26, 2013, URL accessed February 26, 2013.
  15. ^ Humphreys, Adrian (November 19, 2019). "Truth always, no matter the consequences: Christie Blatchford and Lorrie Goldstein enter news hall of fame". nationalpost.com.
  16. ^ Humphreys, Adrian (February 12, 2020). "Dead at 68: Christie Blatchford was a tenacious voice for victims, a thorn to the smugly comfortable". nationalpost.com.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christie_Blatchford&oldid=940464856"