The Brockville Recorder and Times newspaper knew about bizarre practices at Grenville Christian College nearly 20 years ago, but then backed off the story when abandoned by terrified sources and threatened by a high-powered Toronto law firm.
Hunter Grant, former co-publisher of the Brockville Recorder and Times, said yesterday that not getting the story into print was his biggest disappointment in the 30 years he ran what was then his family-owned daily.
The paper had assigned a reporter, Mike Moralis, to investigate both the school and the Community of Jesus in Massachusetts with which the school's staff had close ties.
Mr. Grant's own children had attended the school and heard firsthand the stories of bizarre and harsh discipline to which many students were subjected. His daughter Meredith had experienced the so-called light sessions at which students were set on stools in dark rooms while staff yelled at them that they were sinners. ...
But sources started saying their names could not be used. Without named sources, the paper's lawyers said publication should not be risked.
"If only people had been willing to be quoted in 1989, allowing Mike's work to be published, maybe some of those damaged could have been spared," he said.
With all due respect to Mr. Grant, the issue should likely be considered in terms of whether the sources would be willing to testify in defence of the paper if the college had proceeded with a libel suit (sometimes they are bluffing).
Beyond that, could they prove what the sources were saying? Did the college say, "you're totally wrong", or did they simply say, "if you publish, we'll sue?" The story says that Grant's own daughter had first-hand knowledge of the college's practices.
The unfortunate realpolitik in these cases is that lawsuits are a huge time and money suck. The burdens of one can be borne more easily by larger publications. The Recorder and Times made a defensible decision to pull back from the story, but as Mr. Grant notes, those decisions also come with costs.