February 6 2019 – The National NewsMedia Council considered and dismissed a complaint against two opinion articles published in the National Post on November 15 2018 and November 16, 2018.

The complainant objected to the columns, both of which were related to student response to a detective’s guest lecture to a second year law class.

The columns described the detective’s reportedly blunt comments to the law class, cited controversy between the complainant and Edmonton police, and detailed the response of students who objected to or defended the detective’s lecture.

The complainant argued that in the November 15 2018 column, “Sorry, did I offend you,” the article breached journalistic standards in the following ways: mocking the name of the student who made the complaint about the detective, using unnamed sources, misleading readers with its headline, and exposing an individual to homophobic vitriol by referencing the relationship between the student and the complainant.

Upon reviewing each of these claims, the NewsMedia Council found no breach of journalistic standards. Read the full decision here.