Ford Apologizes To Toronto Star Reporter Daniel Dale, But Journalist Says It's Not Enough

Rob Ford has apologized to Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale and claimed he did not mean to suggest the journalist was a pedophile during a televised interview with Conrad Black.

But Dale said Tuesday afternoon that the apology did not go far enough.

Daniel Dale, Toronto Star Reporter, To Sue Rob Ford Over Pervert Accusation

Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale will sue Rob Ford for saying that the journalist took inappropriate photos of the mayor's children.

Ford made the accusation during a TV interview this week and repeated it on a U.S. radio show Thursday morning.

Star editor Michael Cooke, who has repeatedly said that it would be Dale's decision alone to pursue legal action, broke the news on Twitter Thursday afternoon.

Cooke said Dale will be supported by the Star, including with legal costs, The Globe and Mail reported. The suit is over "the vicious slander about Daniel Dale being a pedophile," Cooke said.

Toronto police will not charge reporter Daniel Dale over Mayor Rob Ford incident

Police investigators have “found no evidence” that Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale was on the mayor’s property or looked over his fence last week and will not be charging him in connection with his well-publicized confrontation with Rob Ford.

“I closed off the investigation,” Det. Tricia Johnston told Dale in a phone conversation Wednesday afternoon. “There’s nothing left to do.”

“You’re not being charged.”

Police closed the investigation late Wednesday afternoon after they accepted Dale’s offer to allow investigators to view any photos, videos and emails on his BlackBerry, which has been in police custody since the incident took place last Wednesday night.

The phone was previously in Ford’s possession after Dale surrendered it to the mayor during the heated confrontation behind his Etobicoke home.

Neighbour, Ford refuse to talk about details of altercation

From the upstairs back window of Zdravko Gagro’s home, you can clearly see the spot behind Mayor Rob Ford’s property where the chief magistrate confronted Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale.

But while Mr. Gagro – who first spotted the reporter and alerted his next door neighbour – was happy enough to show off this excellent sightline, he refused to describe the details of what he saw Wednesday evening.

Those details are at issue in the latest spat between the mayor and the city’s largest newspaper: Mr. Ford says his neighbour spotted Mr. Dale standing on a pile of cinderblocks and peeking over his fence; the reporter maintains he never left the grass of the public park where the mayor came charging at him with his fist clenched.

I believe Daniel Dale

I believe Daniel Dale.

That doesn’t mean the mayor is lying again. Or that he is intentionally misleading the public when he says my colleague stood on cinder blocks and peered into his backyard. Sometimes, things are more complicated than they seem. Two people looking at the same body of evidence can reach divergent conclusions.

I believe Daniel Dale because he sits two desks over from me and has done so for more than a year. You get to know people somewhat by observing them at close quarters day in, day out.

And, from observation, Daniel Dale has no guile. If he did he would not have told us he ran, scared, from the mayor.

He’s an honest, hard-working, excellent reporter — and the awards he’s received proves this.

Dale was being a good reporter when he attempted to see for himself exactly what Mayor Rob Ford has in mind by seeking to buy a piece of public land to, the mayor claims, augment the security and privacy around his home of many years.

Ford’s neighbour saw Dale taking pictures around the back of Ford’s house and called the mayor. So far, so good.

Daniel Dale’s story: Responding to Mayor Rob Ford

In the interest of balance, I should start with the things Mayor Rob Ford has been fully truthful about.

He is absolutely right that he had me “like a cornered rat” on the land behind his backyard. He is absolutely right that I shouted for help repeatedly. He is absolutely right that I repeatedly asked him not to punch me. He is absolutely right that I dropped my phone and digital recorder on the ground. And he is absolutely right that I eventually took off running.

Right, right, right, right, right. And yet, in its big omission, his story is wrong.

Ford’s account omits the reason why I was cornered, why I shouted for help, why I thought he might punch me, why I dropped my trusty digital devices, and why I ran.

Disclosure: as Ford has strongly suggested, I am, uh, somewhat inexperienced in the art of mano-a-mano physical confrontation. The one and only “fight” of my life was a feeble five-second shoving match with Evan Sadofsky on a Grade 7 recess basketball court. I am a documentary-attending, Boyz II Men-singing former valedictorian devoid of identifiable muscle tone. Sources suggest I’m “soft-spoken” and “mild-mannered.”

At the same time, I’m well-versed in the confrontational verbal exchanges that are part and parcel of covering politics. I’ve had several with the mayor. I’d never once felt anything approaching fright during any of them. Part of the job, part of this big-boy game, and something I enjoy.