Rachel Marsden

Rachel Marsden (born December 2, 1974) is a Canadian[1] conservative political columnist, television commentator and university lecturer, based in Paris.[2] She is also the CEO of Rachel Marsden Associates, a PR and media consultancy firm. As of March 2016, she hosts Le Désordre mondial, a French-language geopolitical talk show on Sputnik News from the network's Paris studio four times per week.[3] As of 2020, she is also a nationally ranked competitive swimmer at the masters level in France in the 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m freestyle, 50m butterfly, and 200m individual medley[4][5] and also in Canada.[6][7]

Rachel Marsden
Marsden in 2008
Born (1974-12-02) December 2, 1974
Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation(s)Columnist, political commentator, lecturer
Websitewww.rachelmarsden.com

In the 2000s, she was a columnist for publications such as the Toronto Sun[8] and Human Events magazine.[9] Her column is syndicated by Tribune Publishing.[10]

Early life and education

Marsden grew up in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia.[11] As a high school student at Terry Fox Secondary in 1992, Marsden received a bronze Governor General's Academic Medal.[12]

Marsden was inspired to go into journalism by listening to Canadian radio personality Jack Webster when she was growing up.[13] In 2002, she took a political journalism training course at the National Journalism Center in Washington, DC.[14]

Marsden graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Simon Fraser University (SFU) with a minor in French language.[15] As an SFU student, Marsden came to public attention when she was at the centre of the Simon Fraser University 1997 harassment controversy, in which she and a swimming coach publicly accused each other of sexual harassment.[16][17] The coach was dismissed, then re-hired by the university after doubts were raised about the credibility of Marsden's accusations against him.[13][18] Over ten years later, Marsden was interviewed by the university's newspaper and said of the events: "[The administration] were more interested in quelling negative PR than defending the truth. I was told by SFU to keep quiet and say nothing to the media. My only regret is that I listened to them."[19]

Career
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Marsden first broke into journalism in the early 2000s, writing for conservative web sites. In 2002, she worked for the Free Congress Foundation.[20]

Before the 2004 federal election in Canada, she was hired under an alias by Gurmant Grewal, a Conservative member of the Parliament of Canada, to assist his constituency office with press releases, but was forced out when her identity was revealed by the press while her criminal charges were pending.[13]

In 2005, she had a column at National Post for two months.[21] Later that year she was hired by the Toronto Sun as a weekly opinion columnist, and wrote for them until November 2007.[22] Her syndicated column has appeared in the online edition of The Daily Telegraph,[23] The Spectator,[24] and Townhall.com,[25] and reprinted a few times in Wall Street Journal[2] and the New York Daily News.[26] In 2004 Marsden appeared as a guest on Dennis Miller's CNBC talk show.[27] In 2005 she appeared twice as a guest panelist on The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel.[28] Marsden appeared on the Fox News Channel[29] until 2007.[30]

In early 2007, she moved from Toronto to New York City.[31]

In 2007, she was hired as one of five panelists on Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld,[32] a then new late-night talk show that began airing in February 2007 and worked there for five months.[30] On May 30, 2007, Marsden was dismissed from Red Eye and escorted out of the Fox studio by security guards.[30] She explained that her departure was due to a change in the show's format, and that being escorted out was standard procedure.[30] She appeared once in October 2007, as a guest panelist on CNN's The Situation Room.[33] Marsden has been compared to Ann Coulter in opinion, presentation and appearance.[34][35]

In 2009 Marsden moved to France, and since then she has been a regular panelist on LCP Politique Matin, carried on the state-owned parliamentary television channel La Chaîne parlementaire in France.[36] She taught some classes at Sciences Po as enseignante, or adjunct member of the teaching staff.[37]

In November 2011, she self-published a novel, American Bombshell: A Tale of Domestic and International Invasion[38] through Createspace.

Personal life

In 1997 Marsden came to public attention for her role in the Simon Fraser University 1997 harassment controversy.[11]

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 and wrote he had leaked secret anti-terrorism documents to her.[39] The officer filed a complaint of harassment against Marsden, but this was later dropped. The OPP launched a separate internal investigation into the alleged conduct of the officer. His lawyer declared that he was cleared of any wrongdoing.[11][31][40]

Marsden contacted Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales in 2006 and said that her Wikipedia biography was libelous. Wales stated his involvement with her article was handled through the normal channels, and was "routine". He also says he "recused [himself] from any further official action", after their relationship became personal.[41][42] On February 29, 2008, the Gawker news and gossip blog Valleywag claimed Wales and Marsden had entered into a relationship, and published instant messaging chats they allegedly exchanged.[43] On the following day, Wales announced on his Wikipedia user page that he had broken up with her. Marsden, who learned about the breakup by reading about it on Wikipedia, turned to eBay and put up a T-shirt and sweater for auction that she said belonged to Wales.[17][42][40][44][45]

References
  1. "Ecole de journalisme de Sciences Po — International". Journalisme.sciences-po.fr. October 15, 2007. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  2. Marsden, Rachel (December 30, 2009). "Rachel Marsden: Technology and the New 'Me' Generation — WSJ.com". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  3. Sputnik. "Le Désordre mondial avec Rachel Marsden". fr.sputniknews.com (in French). Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
  4. "Top 200 National Rankings".
  5. "Fédération Française de Natation".
  6. "Rankings – Swimming Canada".
  7. "Rankings – Swimming Canada".
  8. Kristen Thompson (October 9, 2009). "Natives slam Canadian's 'racist' blog on Games". Toronto Star. Retrieved March 1, 2008.
  9. "Rachel Marsden's Articles". Human Events. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  10. "Rachel Marsden articles". Tribune Content Agency. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  11. Goddard (December 21, 2007). "claims harassment by the 'Babe for Bush'". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 4, 2015. [Const. Tony] Backhurst [. . .] acknowledges a brief love affair with Marsden two years ago – not one that continued until nearly three months ago, as Marsden maintains. [. . .] Marsden grew up in Port Coquitlam, B.C., and was enrolled at Simon Fraser in 1995 when she accused swimming coach Liam Donnelly of sexual harassment over a 16-month period and date rape. [. . .] Donnelly was fired. Two months later, he was exonerated, paid compensation and rehired, and the university president resigned over mishandling the case. [. . .] .
  12. "Governor General's Academic Medal". gg.ca. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  13. Rebecca Traister (March 29, 2007). "Fox's Ann Coulter 2.0". Salon.com. Retrieved January 20, 2008.
  14. Rachel Marsen, "Screwing the Vote" is Not the Answer, RachelMarsden.com, undate, accessed March 14, 2014/
  15. "Simon Fraser University: Faculty of Science" (PDF). Sfu.ca. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  16. David Finley (August 1, 1999). "Liam Donnelly's Conviction by Prejudice: Lessons for Harassment Policy". The Fraser Institute. Archived from the original on October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
  17. Siri Agrell (March 4, 2008). "Ms. Marsden's cyberspace breakup: tit-for-tat-for-T-shirt". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
  18. Young, Kevin; White, Philip (1999). Sport and Gender in Canada, volume 10. Oxford University Press. p. 107. ISBN 0195413172.
  19. "Meet Rachel Marsden". The Peak. July 22, 2013. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  20. "Woman pleads guilty to harassment of former radio personality in Canada". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Associated Press. October 13, 2004. Retrieved November 24, 2013.
  21. Stewart Bell (December 19, 2007). "Ont. anti-terror officer investigated on leak allegations". National Post. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
  22. "Rachel Marsden Gone". Toronto Sun Family. November 8, 2007. Retrieved March 1, 2008.
  23. Rachel Marsden (October 9, 2009). "I make fun of the Vancouver Winter Olympics logo, and suddenly I'm a 'racist'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on October 12, 2009. Retrieved March 1, 2008.
  24. "Rachel Marsden". The Spectator. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  25. "Rachel Marsden Articles — Political Columnist & Commentator". Townhall.com. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  26. Rachel Marsden (July 8, 2011). "DSK drama has Paris burning: French society shows its divisions over rape case". New York Daily News. Retrieved March 1, 2008.
  27. "Dennis Miller — Episode Guide (146–170) - MSN TV". Tv.msn.com. January 24, 2005. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
  28. "The O'Reilly Factor [search results for 'Rachel Marsden']". Billoreilly.com. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  29. "About Rachel Marsden". Rachel Marsden. Archived from the original on March 22, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
  30. "Toronto columnist Marsden ousted from Fox News". Thestar.com. May 31, 2007. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  31. Anne Kingston (June 25, 2008). "Agent Provocateur". Macleans. Archived from the original on March 1, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014. She moved to New York in early 2007. . . . An internal investigation cleared Backhurst of wrongdoing, says [Backhurst's lawyer Andrew McKay]. . . .
  32. Rebecca Traister (March 31, 2009). "May contain a past". The Ontario Star. Retrieved March 1, 2008.
  33. "CNN Transcripts — The Situation Room, October 31, 2007". CNN. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
  34. Kate Kennedy (July 2, 2008). "Tale of the Tape". Macleans. Archived from the original on March 1, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  35. Campbell Robertson (April 10, 2007). "At 2 A.M., Dark Humor Meets the Camera Lights". New York Times. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
  36. "LCP Assemblée nationale | Politique Matin : La matinale du jeudi 6 novembre 2014". Lcp.fr. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  37. "Ateliers radio | Portail Scolarite Sciences Po". Formation.sciences-po.fr. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  38. "Perry Debate Gaffe Highlights Hyperfocus on Image — Rachel Marsden — Page full". Townhall.com. November 15, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  39. "Wikipedia founder accused of agreeing to alter page: report". CBC News. March 12, 2008.
  40. "Canadian pundit, Wikipedia founder in messy breakup". The Canadian Press. March 2, 2008. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  41. Wales, Jimmy (March 1, 2003). "Statement of Jimmy Wales". Personal Blog. jimmywales.com. Archived from the original on June 30, 2009. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  42. Asher Moses (March 4, 2008). "Ex takes her revenge on Mr Wikipedia". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
  43. "Rachel Marsden And Jimmy Wales' Sex Chats And Break-Up E-Mail". Huffingtonpost.com. March 3, 2008. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  44. Pavia, Will; Naughton, Philippe (March 4, 2008). "Fury of a woman scorned – on Wikipedia". The Times. London. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
  45. Bergstein, Brian (March 5, 2008). "Wikipedia's Wales defends breakup, expenses". USA Today. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
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