Rachel Marsden
Rachel Marsden (born December 2, 1974) is a Canadian conservative political columnist, television commentator and university lecturer, based in Paris. She is the former host of a talk show on Sputnik News[1] and is a columnist for the Toronto Sun.[2] Her column is syndicated by Tribune Content Agency[3][4] and she is a regular contributor to the English and French services of the RT news channel.[5]
Rachel Marsden
December 2, 1974
- Columnist
- political commentator
- lecturer
Early life and education[edit]
Marsden grew up in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia.[6] As a high school student at Terry Fox Secondary School in 1992, Marsden received a bronze Governor General's Academic Medal.[7]
Marsden was inspired to go into journalism by listening to Canadian radio personality Jack Webster when she was growing up.[8] In 2002, she took a political journalism training course at the National Journalism Center in Washington, DC.
Marsden graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Simon Fraser University (SFU) with a minor in French language.[9] As an SFU student, Marsden came to public attention when she was at the centre of the Simon Fraser University 1997 harassment controversy, in which she and a swimming coach publicly accused each other of sexual harassment.[10][11]
The coach was dismissed, then exonerated and re-hired by the university after doubts were raised about the credibility of Marsden's accusations against him.[12][8][13] Over ten years later, Marsden was interviewed by the university's newspaper and said of the events: "[The administration] were more interested in quelling negative PR than defending the truth. I was told by SFU to keep quiet and say nothing to the media. My only regret is that I listened to them."[14]
Personal life[edit]
Marsden was a nationally-ranked competitive swimmer.[36][37][38][39][40][41]
In September 2007, a relationship between Marsden and an Ontario Provincial Police officer ended. She posted his photo and identified him on her blog as an anti-terrorism officer and wrote he had leaked secret anti-terrorism documents to her.[42] The officer filed a complaint of harassment against Marsden, but this was later dropped. The OPP launched a separate internal investigation into the alleged conduct of the officer. His lawyer declared that he was cleared of any wrongdoing.[6][28][43]
Marsden contacted Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales in 2006 and said that her Wikipedia biography was libelous. Wales stated his involvement with her article was handled through the normal channels, and was "routine". He also says he "recused [himself] from any further official action", after their relationship became personal.[44][45]
On February 29, 2008, the Gawker news and gossip blog Valleywag claimed Wales and Marsden had entered into a relationship, and published instant messaging chats they allegedly exchanged.[46] On the following day, Wales announced on his Wikipedia user page that he had broken up with her. Marsden, who learned about the breakup by reading about it on Wikipedia, turned to eBay and put up a T-shirt and sweater for auction that she said belonged to Wales.[11][45][43][47][48]