Sexual Politics In Newsroom Leads To Dismissal Of Two Top Executives In Torstar In Raveena Aulakh's Death!

Toronto Star environmental correspondent Raveena Aulakh, who was well known in the South Asian community in Toronto, was reported to have taken her own life on 28 May. During “a thorough internal investigation" by the Star, it was "revealed that Raveena and Jon Filson, head of the Star’s tablet project, had been involved in a relationship for some time that had ended recently. “Further, the clearly heartbroken reporter made allegations in those emails about an improper relationship between Filson and his boss, managing editor Jane Davenport. Action has been taken following this investigation. Filson and Davenport have lost their jobs in the newsroom,” the Star’s public editor, Kathy English said in a statement.

TORONTO – Toronto's biggest daily newspaper the Toronto Star is under pressure to hold an independent investigation into the circumstances behind the death of one of its reporters, who happens to be an Indo-Canadian, reported the UK Guardian newspaper.

Toronto Star environmental correspondent Raveena Aulakh, who was well known in the South Asian community in Toronto, was reported to have taken her own life on 28 May.

She left a note, discovered by her newsroom colleagues, in which she asked the paper not to publish an obituary or turn her death into a story. That request was honoured.

But rumours about the reasons for Aulakh having committed suicide swept the paper, and were then reported by other newspapers.

They were fuelled by the surprise departure of the head of the Star’s tablet project, Jon Filson. Days later, it was announced that managing editor Jane Davenport was moving to another division of the publisher, Torstar.

Renewed speculation prompted the union that represents the Star’s employees to call for an independent investigation into her death.

It said the third-party inquiry should consider “events surrounding the tragedy” and “include workplace health and safety, and harassment issues.”

In response to that call, the Star’s public editor, Kathy English, issued a measured and sensitive statement on Tuesday, “When a private tragedy becomes a public spectacle.”

She revealed that Aulakh left explicit instructions that her death should not be publicised. In her note, she wrote: “Please don’t talk about me. Please don’t let anyone write about me.”

English was sorry that, in making her statement, she was “going against the wishes of Raveena’s family”, but explained that with the public call for an investigation events had “spiralled out of control.” Aulakh’s death had become “news.” She continued:

“Journalists use the word tragedy a lot in reporting on the sad things of our world and to use it here seems to me to somehow belittle the dark grief so many of us feel now that one of us has died in such a heartbreaking manner.

MEET THE REPORTER: One of Raveena Aulakh's big undercover stories for the Toronto Star was when she worked for a week in a Bangladesh clothing factory and wrote a powerful story in 2013 about her brief experience working in a clothing sweatshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where her boss was, stunningly, a 9-year-old girl named Meem.

The Star’s newsroom is reeling, trying to make sense of the reality that Raveena chose not to live any longer. I have worked in newsrooms for 40 years and have never seen anything like the level of grief and anger exploding here.”

She said emails found during “a thorough internal investigation… revealed that Raveena and Jon Filson… had been involved in a relationship for some time that had ended recently.

 “Further, the clearly heartbroken reporter made allegations in those emails about an improper relationship between Filson and his boss, managing editor Jane Davenport.

“Action has been taken following this investigation. Filson and Davenport have lost their jobs in the newsroom.”

English reported that Torstar’s chief executive, David Holland, had told her the investigation concluded that the company’s policies “related to workplace relationships and conflicts of interest… need to be ‘amplified.’”

The union does not think the measures go far enough and has rejected a management offer to talk about the matter.

English reiterated her past comments on the media coverage of suicide, saying it “demands caution, context and compassion, as well as deep understanding that suicide is never just another story, but the end of a life in the most tragic way possible. Sadly, that has become all too clear to all of us at the Star in recent days. RIP, Raveena.”

Courtesy the Guardian