Heather Mallick

Heather Mallick (born 1959) is a Toronto-based columnist, author and lecturer. She writes a weekly column for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's website, and a monthly column for The Guardian's website. She teaches courses on politics and writing at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies and lectures on Human Rights and Canadian nationalism. Until recently she also wrote a monthly column for "Chatelaine" magazine.

Biography

Mallick was born in Norway House, Manitoba and raised in the northern Ontario town of Kapuskasing and in other remote communities where her father worked as a physician, Mallick attended the University of Toronto where she received a bachelor's and Master of Arts degrees in English Literature. She also earned a bachelor's degree in Journalism from Ryerson University.

After graduation, she was employed at the Canadian financial daily newspaper "Financial Post" where she first worked as a copy editor and later became a news editor.

She first came to public notice in Canada during the 1990s as the book review editor and writer for the Sunday edition of the "Toronto Sun", where she won two Canadian Newspaper Association National Newspaper Awards for critical writing in 1994 and feature writing in 1996 [http://www.cna-acj.ca/client/cna/cna.nsf/web/NNAWinners1996/ Canadian National Newspaper awards 1996] . Mallick later wrote for "The Globe and Mail" where her left-of-centre political opinion column "As If" was a regular part of the paper's Saturday edition until December 2005. She also wrote major and minor pieces for the newspaper on lifestyle and other issues. Stylistically, Mallick has been compared to writers such as the American commentators Maureen Dowd and Molly Ivins and the British commentator Julie Burchill.

Mallick's first book, "Pearls in Vinegar", was published in September, 2004 in Canada. She published a collection of new essays for Knopf Canada in April, 2007 entitled "Cake or Death: The Excruciating Choices of Everyday Life".

Mallick is married to Stephen Petherbridge, a senior British/Canadian journalist. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_mallick/ CBC News: Analysis & Viewpoint: Heather Mallick] ]

In October 2007, Mallick gave the 2nd annual Mel Hurtig Lecture on the Future of Canada, at the University of Alberta [http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/polisci/multimedia.cfm?cfnocache/ Mel Hurtig Annual Lecture on the Future of Canada 2007] .

2008 Controversy

In September 2008, two right-of-centre National Post writers (Barbara Kay and Jonathan Kay) sharply criticized Mallick for comments she made in her opinion column, in an article called “A mighty wind blows through Republican convention” about Sarah Palin, who had just been selected as the U.S. Republican party's Vice-Presidential candidate. As an example of the language criticized by others, Mallick wrote "Husband Todd looks like a roughneck ... What normal father would want Levi 'I'm a f-cking redneck' Johnson prodding his daughter?" [ [http://www.heathermallick.ca/cbc.ca-columns/a-mighty-wind-blows-through-republican-convention.html A Mighty Wind blows through Republican convention] by Heather Mallick, Special to CBC News, September 5, 2008] [ [http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/09/09/barbara-kay-stop-using-my-money-to-fund-hate-on-the-cbc.aspx Barbara Kay: Stop using my money to fund hate on the CBC] by Barbara Kay, National Post, September 9, 2008.] [ [http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/09/09/jonathan-kay-on-heather-mallick-another-week-another-disgrace-at-the-cbc.aspx Jonathan Kay on Heather Mallick: Another week, another disgrace at the CBC] by Jonathan Kay, National Post, September 09, 2008]

There was also a negative reaction from the US right-of-centre [ [http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Media-Bias-Is-Real-Finds-UCLA-6664.aspx Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist] . By Meg Sullivan, UCLA Newsroom, writing about a study by Tim Groseclose."] [ [http://www.polisci.ucla.edu/faculty/groseclose/Media.Bias.pdf A Measure of Media Bias] by Time Groseclose and Jeffery Milyo, UCLA] Fox News Channel. The Ottawa Citizen's David Warren appeared on at least two interviews on Fox where the interviewers mentioned the CBC's status as a taxpayer-funded news source (with which Fox News competes to some degree in Canada). When he was interviewed by Greta van Susteren, she said about Mallick, "She just sounds like a pig to me," and "I just think she's a pig." Warren claimed that "almost all" conservative journalists in Canada have been called before human rights commissions and press councils and lamented that Mallick would not be, due to her left-of-centre politics. One of the interviews was later posted on YouTube several times.

After the negative news exposure in Canada and particularly the US, Mallick began to receive emails, some of which threatened violence, and were anti-Semitic (despite the fact that Mallick is not Jewish). The Fox News website also contained anti-Canadian comments in response to the controversy. The CBC initially said it would not remove the article, and that "She's an opinion columnist, she expresses her opinion."

CBC Ombudsman Vince Carlin subsequently conducted a review of Mallick's article. He noted that Mallick is not a CBC employee (she is a freelance writer) and is therefore not subject to the same rules as CBC employees. However, he noted that Mallick presented several statements as facts without any justification. He noted that "there is no factual basis for a broad scale conclusion about the sexual adequacy of Republican men" and "that type of comment, applied to any other group, would easily be seen as, at best, puerile." He also noted that Mallick's "characterization of Palin supporters as white trash lacks a factual basis." Carlin wrote that he had asked Ms. Mallick to explain the basis for these characterizations and although she explained her opinions of Ms. Palin, she "did not provide a factual justification for the statements." [http://www.cbc.ca/ombudsman/page/MALLICK-PALIN.pdf Review of complaints about Heather Mallick’s column of September 5, 2008] , Vince Carlin, CBC Ombudsman, September 25, 2008.]

Carlin stated that Mallick "is entitled to her opinions, and those opinions should not be censored, but those opinions must also be expressed in a manner that meets our Journalistic Standards and Practices. Liberty is not the same as license ["sic"] ." Carlin also noted that it is not the responsibility of the CBC only to publish viewpoints that are favoured by the majority of Canadians but rather "the CBC should not shy away from pointed opinions, but it should seek out the broadest range that can be found." Carlin also resisted the "impulse to suppress opinions that cause upset, or to issue a blanket defense of freedom of opinion" but rather called for the development of "standards to ensure that vigorous opinion thrives while ensuring that journalistic and quality standards are met."

On September 28, 2008, an apology and retraction of the column was issued by the CBC. The article was characterized as "a classic piece of political invective....it is viciously personal, grossly hyperbolic and intensely partisan." [http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/507916 CBC offers online apology for column maligning Sarah Palin] , John Cruickshank, CBC Publisher, September 28, 2008.] Heather Mallick herself did not respond to the CBC's apology, and did not personally retract the column.

Works

*"Pearls in Vinegar: The Pillow Book of Heather Mallick" (2004) ISBN 978-0-670-04462-8. This is a collection of her short essays on many different subjects, personal, social and political, as a modern version of the 10th Century Japanese Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon.
*"Cake or Death: The Excruciating Choices of Everyday Life" (2007) ISBN 978-0-676-97840-7.

References

External links

* [http://www.heathermallick.ca/ Heather Mallick's web site]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_mallick/ Heather Mallick's viewpoint articles at cbc.ca]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/heathermallick/ Heather Mallick's articles at guardian.co.uk]
* [http://www.womenspost.ca/Oh_to_be_a_fool.asp Heather Mallick writing for The Women's Post]
* [Mallick column removed, CBC apologizes [http://www.j-source.ca/english_new/detail.php?id=2832] ]
* [http://www.heathermallick.ca/cbc.ca-columns/a-mighty-wind-blows-through-republican-convention.html Heather Mallick on Sarah Palin]
* [http://kanadaihirlap.com/2008/09/29/cbc-palin-attack-raises-questions-about-state-funded-television/ Mallick opinion on Palin raises questions about state-funded television ]