Daniel Dale

Daniel Dale (born March 28, 1985) is a Canadian journalist known for rebutting a large number of false claims made by United States President Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign and presidency. Dale credits an encounter with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford while covering the mayor and his brother Doug for the Toronto Star as the inspiration for developing his brand of adversarial journalism.

Daniel Dale
Born (1985-03-28) March 28, 1985
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Alma materSchulich School of Business, York University (BBA)
OccupationJournalist
Employers
Spouse
Kelsey Shamburger
​
(m. 2022)​
[1]
Children1

He went on to serve as the Star's Washington bureau chief from 2015 to 2019. In June 2019, Dale was hired by CNN to contribute to a regular "Facts First" column in CNN Politics.[2] Dale was a frequent contributor during the Trump administration, appearing or being mentioned on CNN more than once a day on average, though his appearances and commentary on the veracity of claims sharply declined during the succeeding administration.[3]

Early life and education

Daniel Dale was born to a Jewish family and raised in Thornhill, Ontario.[4] He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from York University's Schulich School of Business.[4] During his time at university, Dale became interested in journalism, and he wrote for campus publications and applied for journalism internships.[4][5]

Career

2010–2014: Covering Rob and Doug Ford

After graduating from university, Dale joined the Toronto Star in 2008.[6] Dale worked for the Star as their Toronto City Hall reporter and bureau chief,[7] covering the administration of Mayor Rob Ford and his brother Doug from 2010 to 2014.[5][8][9]

In May 2012, Dale investigated a potential purchase of public lands near Rob Ford's home when Dale and Ford had an incident. According to Ford, a neighbor had informed him that someone was taking pictures over the back of his fence, which prompted him to confront Dale. Dale denied Ford's version of the incident, saying that he had not come within 10 feet of the mayor's property. He said that Ford was "extremely agitated" and had frightened him into leaving behind his mobile phone and digital recorder at the scene of the incident.[10][11][12] The police later announced that no charges would be filed in the incident.[13]

In December 2013, Ford accused Dale of taking pictures of Ford's children on his property in the previous incident; Dale denied the accusation, saying that he had never taken any photographs of Ford's family, which was corroborated by a police investigation.[14] Ford later retracted the accusations, stating "there was absolutely no basis for the statement I made about Mr. Dale taking pictures," in response to Dale launching a lawsuit against him. After a lengthy apology from Ford, Dale dropped the lawsuit.[15][16] Dale later stated that the incident inspired him to take up fact-checking,[5][17] telling The Daily Beast in 2020: "The Star let me write a column headlined 'Rob Ford is lying about me and it’s vile,' and I started thinking after that, if I can say 'lie' about something concerning me, why can’t I say that about other lies? That was a big moment."[5]

In 2014, Dale fact-checked the candidates of that year's Toronto mayoral election.[18][19]

2015–present: Tenure as Toronto Star Washington bureau chief and move to CNN

In 2015, Dale traveled to Washington, D.C., to serve as the Washington bureau chief for the Toronto Star.[20][21] During his tenure, Dale covered events in the last two years of the presidency of Barack Obama, such as the heroin crisis, the Flint water crisis and the presidential campaign and presidency of Donald Trump.[22][23]

In November 2015, Dale travelled to Milwaukee to write about its racial segregation.[24][25] When the August 2016 Milwaukee riots broke out, several U.S. journalists made use of Dale's reporting to gain an understanding of why the riots occurred.[24]

Starting in September 2016, Dale compiled informal lists of then-presidential candidate Trump's falsehoods together with parenthetical fact checks in his spare time, sharing the lists on Twitter.[6][26][27] In the same month, filmmaker Michael Moore praised Dale in a tweet, saying that Dale "shame[d] the US media", which resulted in Dale gaining a larger following on Twitter.[9][22] Dale maintained a list of fact-checks of Trump for the Toronto Star from the beginning of Trump's presidency until he departed from the Star in June 2019.[28]

On October 1, 2017, Trump tweeted: "Being nice to Rocket Man [Trump's nickname for Kim Jong-un] hasn't worked in 25 years, why would it work now? Clinton failed, Bush failed, and Obama failed. I won't fail." Dale responded to Trump's tweet, noting that Kim Jong-un was eight years old in 1992. Trump subsequently blocked Dale on Twitter.[24]

In November 2017, when news broke on the sexual misconduct allegations against Roy Moore, the Republican nominee in the United States Senate special election in Alabama, Dale contacted more than five Republican chairmen across Alabama for comment;[24] several officials told Dale that the allegations did not change their support for Moore.[29] The Washington Post used Dale's work as a source for Republican reaction to the scandal.[24]

In June 2019, Dale left the Toronto Star to join CNN as a full-time fact-checker for Trump.[6][23] During the 2020 United States presidential election, Dale fact-checked both Trump and his opponent Joe Biden during the key events, including the presidential debates and convention speeches.[9][30]

Personal life

Dale married his girlfriend Kelsey Shamburger in July 2022.[1] Dale lives with his wife, their child[31] and their pet Pomeranian.[5][9]

Dale is a teetotaler, having only had two drinks in his life.[26]

Awards and honors

Dale won the Edward Goff Penny Memorial Prize in 2010 and 2011, the National Newspaper Award for Short Feature in 2012[4][32] and the Norman Webster Award for International Reporting in 2019.[23]

Politico ranked Dale 8th in its list of 16 breakout media stars of 2016 for his fact-checking of Trump.[33] Rolling Stone named Dale's Twitter account its "Hot News Source" in 2018.[34] Toronto Life ranked Dale 47th in its list of the top 50 influential Torontonians in 2017,[35] and 49th in 2018.[36]

References
  1. Daniel Dale [@ddale8] (July 18, 2022). "My angel @kelseysham married me ..." (Tweet). Retrieved April 11, 2023 – via Twitter.
  2. "Fact Check". CNN. Archived from the original on May 2, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  3. "What Ever Happened to Daniel Dale? CNN Fact-Checker Has Disappeared From Air Post-Trump". Mediaite. February 20, 2021. Archived from the original on November 16, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  4. Baylen, Ashley (March 13, 2014). "Top 20 Under 40 – Daniel Dale". Shalom Life. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  5. Grove, Lloyd (August 30, 2020). "The CNN 'Firehose' Dousing Trump's Incendiary Lies". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  6. "One of Canada's most famous journalists is heading to CNN to cover Trump full-time". Daily Hive. June 5, 2019. Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  7. "Daniel Dale | Snider Lecture". University of Toronto Mississauga. October 3, 2019. Archived from the original on June 18, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  8. Dale, Daniel (October 19, 2016). "Confessions of a Trump Fact-Checker". Politico. Archived from the original on May 10, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2021. From 2010 to 2014, I had covered the surreal Toronto administration of infamous Mayor Rob Ford and his lesser-known brother Doug...
  9. Blake, Meredith (October 30, 2020). "Trump makes so many false claims, CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale has lost count". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  10. "Rob Ford offered to quit after altercation with reporter". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. May 4, 2012. Archived from the original on August 2, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  11. "Star reporter denies peering into Rob Ford's yard". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. May 4, 2012. Archived from the original on November 6, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  12. Dale, Daniel (May 4, 2012). "Daniel Dale: The Toronto Star reporter who became the story". The Hamilton Spectator. ISSN 1189-9417. Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  13. "Star reporter faces no charges in Rob Ford confrontation". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. May 10, 2012. Archived from the original on September 26, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  14. "Rob Ford 'kids' quote sparks controversy with Toronto Star". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. December 11, 2013. Archived from the original on October 11, 2021. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  15. "Daniel Dale Drops Rob Ford Lawsuit After Mayor Issues Second Apology". HuffPost Canada. December 18, 2013. Archived from the original on May 2, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  16. "Rob Ford apologizes again, Daniel Dale drops lawsuit". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. December 19, 2013. Archived from the original on May 13, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  17. "Counting Trump's lies: Daniel Dale's relentless quest to fact-check the president". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. June 7, 2019. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  18. Dale, Daniel (March 17, 2014). "Campaign Lie Detector: Fact-checking Rob Ford, Olivia Chow, Karen Stintz". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  19. Dale, Daniel (October 21, 2014). "Campaign Lie Detector: Doug Ford makes 23 inaccurate statements at Star debate". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  20. "Daniel Dale's epic 4-year Trump fact check". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. January 23, 2021. Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved May 5, 2021. Daniel Dale — a CNN reporter and former Washington bureau chief for the Toronto Star
  21. "CNN Profiles - Daniel Dale". CNN. Archived from the original on September 2, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  22. Morrison, Patt (May 29, 2019). "Meet Daniel Dale, the man with the Herculean job of keeping track of Trump's lies". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  23. Tubb, Ed (June 6, 2019). "Reporter Daniel Dale does his last Trump fact check for the Toronto Star". The Hamilton Spectator. ISSN 1189-9417. Archived from the original on May 2, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  24. Popplewell, Brett (May 10, 2018). "Inside the Toronto Star's Bold Plan to Save Itself". The Walrus. Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  25. Dale, Daniel (January 25, 2016). "'Back in time 60 years': America's most segregated city". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  26. Hart, Benjamin (April 17, 2019). "Daniel Dale on Whether President Trump Believes His Own Lies". Intelligencer. Archived from the original on May 2, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  27. Tamkin, Emily (September 11, 2019). "CNN public editor: Daniel Dale's fact-checking mission checks out". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  28. Dale, Daniel (June 2, 2019). "Every false claim Donald Trump has made as president". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on June 21, 2021. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  29. Graham, David A. (November 9, 2017). "Roy Moore Presents Republicans With a Familiar Dilemma". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 7, 2021. Several other Alabama GOP officials told Daniel Dale the allegations didn't change their support for Moore.
  30. Sullivan, Margaret (August 29, 2020). "Perspective | Fact-checking Trump's lies is essential. It's also increasingly fruitless". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on April 20, 2021. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  31. Daniel Dale [@ddale8] (June 14, 2023). "Yes, @jaketapper is accurate as always, @kelseysham and I have a lil baby! (Baby is great and Kelsey rules.)" (Tweet). Retrieved June 14, 2023 – via Twitter.
  32. "Daniel Dale | CNN Reporter | Award-Winning Journalist". Speakers' Spotlight. Archived from the original on May 17, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  33. Gold, Hadas (November 6, 2016). "16 breakout media stars of 2016". Politico. Archived from the original on May 17, 2021. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
  34. "Hot List 2018". Rolling Stone. November 1, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  35. "The Influentials 2017: The top 50". Toronto Life. November 21, 2017. Archived from the original on May 2, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  36. "The 50 most influential Torontonians of 2018". Toronto Life. November 15, 2018. Archived from the original on May 2, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
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