Rachel Marsden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rachel Marsden | |
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| Born | December 2, 1974 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
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| Occupation | columnist, political commentator |
| Website RachelMarsden.com GrandCentralPolitical.com |
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Rachel Marsden (born 1974[1]) is a Canadian conservative political columnist and television commentator based in New York City, United States.
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Career
Marsden first broke into print journalism in the early 2000s, writing for conservative web sites and The Washington Times. In 2002, she worked for the Free Congress Foundation, and resigned when her employer learned of a harassment charge against her.[2]
Prior to the 2004 federal election in Canada, she was hired by Gurmant Grewal, a Conservative member of the Parliament of Canada, to assist his constituency office with press releases.[3][4] She was a regular National Post columnist for two months[5] in 2005 before joining the Toronto Sun as a weekly opinion columnist, a position held until November 2007. In 2006, she moved from Toronto to New York. Her political commentary has been reprinted by other journals, including the New York Post and NewsMax Media.[6]
Marsden was a frequent guest on Dennis Miller Live when she was spotted to become the Canadian pundit for The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel. Marsden was employed by the Fox News Channel from 2004[6] to May 2007.[7] She was promoted to panelist on Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld, a late-night talk show. A producer on Red Eye praised Marsden, saying that "she has very passionate opinions...she's articulate, intelligent, and we get a lot of favorable mail about her".[4] Marsden has been compared to Ann Coulter in opinion, presentation and appearance.[8] On May 30, 2007, Marsden was dismissed from Red Eye and escorted out of the Fox studio by security guards. She commented that her departure was due to a change in the show's format, and that being escorted out is standard procedure.[9]
In October 2007, she was a panelist on CNN's The Situation Room.[10]
In 2008, Marsden launched Grand Central Political, a website that attempts to mix political columns with job opportunities and resumes for the "politically-minded". Nathan Tabor's web-based consulting firm TCV Media was involved.[11]
Personal life and education
Marsden grew up in the Vancouver suburb of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. She was an avid competitive swimmer. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in science from Simon Fraser University, Marsden earned a diploma in broadcast journalism from the British Columbia Institute of Technology.[1] Marsden has said that growing up listening to flamboyant Canadian radio personality Jack Webster inspired her move into journalism.[4] She also attended the National Journalism Center.[12]
As a student, Marsden came to public attention when she was at the center of the Simon Fraser University 1997 harassment controversy, in which she and a swimming coach publicly accused each other of sexual harassment.[13][14] The coach was initially dismissed but later the university re-hired him.[4]
In 2004, Marsden was given a conditional discharge with one year of probation for criminal harassment of her boyfriend, a Vancouver radio show host, following a breakup.[15][16][17][18] 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 who had leaked secret anti-terrorism documents to her. At the same time, in an email to his superiors, she described the nationality and activities of the targets of an investigation in Ontario involving the OPP, Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and problems encountered by those investigators. The officer filed a complaint of criminal harassment against Marsden with the South Simcoe Police but this did not result in criminal charges. The OPP's criminal investigations branch cleared the officer of criminal wrongdoing with regard to Marsden's accusations of leaking classified information. A separate internal investigation into the matter is currently ongoing. [19]
On more than one occasion Marsden asked Wikipedia to delete her biography on the site. Her concerns led her to contact Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales in 2006, claiming that it was wrong and libellous. He reviewed her biography and, deeming that it was not up to standard, reportedly helped her to clean up the entry.[20] On February 29, 2008, the technology gossip blog Valleywag claimed that they had entered into a relationship, and published instant messaging chats that they had allegedly exchanged. On the following day Wales announced on his Wikipedia user page that he was no longer involved with her. In return, Marsden, who claimed to have learned about the breakup by reading about it on the Internet, turned to eBay and put up for auction a t-shirt and sweater that she claimed belonged to Wales.[21][22][23][24][20][25]
Notes
- ^ a b Agent. Biography for Rachel Marsden. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
- ^ "Woman pleads guilty to harassment of former radio personality in Canada", The San Diego Union-Tribune, Associated Press, 2004-10-13. Retrieved on 2008-01-19.
- ^ Marisa Babic. "No regrets hiring Marsden: Grewal", The Surrey Now, 2004-05-10.
- ^ a b c d Rebecca Traister (2007-03-29). Fox's Ann Coulter 2.0. Salon.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
- ^ Stewart Bell. "Ont. anti-terror officer investigated on leak allegations", National Post, 2007-12-19. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
- ^ a b About Rachel Marsden. Rachel Marsden. Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
- ^ "Eye-opener", New York Post, 2007-05-31. Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
- ^ Campbell Robertson. "At 2 A.M., Dark Humor Meets the Camera Lights", New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
- ^ Canadian Press, "Toronto columnist Marsden ousted from Fox News", Toronto Star, May 31, 2007
- ^ CNN Transcripts- The Situation Room, October 31, 2007. CNN. Retrieved on 2008-03-23.
- ^ Jim Kouri (2008-01-31). Rachel Marsden and CPAC: There's a New Sheriff in Town. American Chronicle. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
- ^ Rachel Marsden (2004-05-04). "Screwing the Vote" is Not the Answer. OpinionEditorials.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
- ^ David Finley (1999-08-01). Liam Donnelly's Conviction by Prejudice: Lessons for Harassment Policy. The Fraser Institute. Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
- ^ Siri Agrell. "Ms. Marsden's cyberspace breakup: tit-for-tat-for-T-shirt", Globe and Mail, 2008-03-04. Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
- ^ "Vancouver woman charged with harassment", CBC News, 2002-11-21.
- ^ Regina v. Rachel Marsden, Reasons for Sentence of the Honourable Judge W. J. Kitchen. British Columbia Provincial Court (Criminal Division) (2004-10-12). Retrieved on 2006-12-30.
- ^ Hall, Neal. "Rachel Marsden pleads guilty, gets probation", Vancouver Sun, 2004-10-13. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
- ^ Berry, Steve. "'Immature' Marsden guilty of harassing former lover", The Province, 2004-10-13. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
- ^ Wikipedia founder accused of agreeing to alter page: report
- ^ a b Asher Moses. "Ex takes her revenge on Mr Wikipedia", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2008-03-04. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
- ^ Siri Agrell. "Canadian pundit, Wikipedia founder in messy breakup", The Canadian Press, 2008-03-02. Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
- ^ Siri Agrell. "Ms. Marsden's cyberspace breakup: tit-for-tat-for-T-shirt", The Globe and Mail, 2008-03-04. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
- ^ "Wikipedia Founder's Fling With Columnist Ends in Nasty Public Breakup", FOXNews.com, 2008-03-03. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
- ^ "Fury of a woman scorned – on Wikipedia", The Times, 2008-03-04. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
- ^ "Wikipedia's Wales defends breakup, expenses", USA Today, 2008-03-05. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
External links
- Rachel Marsden – official website
- Grand Central Political – business website
- This article uses content licensed under the GFDL from deleted revisions of Wikipedia's article on Rachel Marsden. A list of previous authors of the page can be found at Talk:Rachel Marsden/GFDL History.
