Free Press Under Fire After Jen Zoratti Denigrates Oct. 7 Victims


Episode 13 looks at antisemitism in Winnipeg media, concealed under the guise of far-left “intersectionality” and claims that it’s only anti-Zionism, not antisemitism.

Even with Justin Trudeau shoveling millions of dollars annually into the newspaper, the Winnipeg Free Press needs every reader and advertiser they can get. But when the pages are filled with slanted reporting and mean-spirited opinions that insult the public, it’s a losing battle.

3.00 – To stem the tide, WFP editor Paul Samyn emailed a mea culpa to readers on Jan. 24. This was after blatant failures to flag a sexist column by Tom Brodbeck about former Premier Heather Stefanson (“for that we apologize”); an unhinged attack on unvaccinated Manitobans that “provided us with no immunity against the criticism that came our way”; and ongoing complaints about coverage of the Gaza War.

You’ll hear how his “adjusting the mix on our letters page” instead opened the door last Saturday to Hamas-supporting leftists- who laugh about the paper being their useful idiots.

Samyn assured readers their feedback was “helping the Free Press be stronger, a trusted place you can turn to for defining the news of the day and debating the issues of our time.”

In less than 48 hours, he was forced to eat his words.

11:00 Part 2- Three columns in the Winnipeg Jewish Review provided a scathing rebuke to a review by Jen Zoratti of an event hosted by Gail Asper exposing the sexual violence of Hamas on Oct. 7.

First, Marty Gold reads some of the unbelievably rancid comments from Zoratti. Then, he recaps the op-ed of Jessica Cogan, herself a feminist, who was at the program on January 24 at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

“I am left wondering how Ms. Zoratti could have left that program with the viewpoint that she did, without even a shred of compassion for the victims discussed that evening… she goes on to scold us for the way we are being forced to “bear witness”. Does Ms. Zoratti live under a rock?”

“Ms. Zoratti then accuses the Jewish Community, including Jewish women, of exploiting “women’s bodies to drive a political agenda and justify violence.” This is victim-blaming of the highest order. In what gender studies classes did Ms. Zoratti learn this approach?”

Cogan asked, “Would Ms. Zoratti go to an event hosted by the Muslim, Black, or Indigenous communities and have the audacity to “what about” them? Tellingly, Ms. Zoratti had no hesitation in doing so to the Jewish Community. Again, it speaks for itself.”

Samyn may have to issue another mea culpa, since “The one glaring omission from Ms. Zoratti’s opinion was any hint of compassion or empathy towards the Israeli victims or the members of Winnipeg’s Jewish community who assembled that evening.”

22:54 Part 3- We tell you how Larry Pinsky, a Winnipeg lawyer, went even further in his op-ed, Holocause Remembrance And October 7: How Do You Fix A Problem Like Zoratti?

“Ms. Zoratti, who usually is held out in the paper as an entertainment columnist… denigrated the survivors and victims of the mass sexual assaults and other crimes committed by Hamas and their co-conspirators.”

“Ms. Zoratti paid lip service to believing that these vile crimes were committed, using the word “ostensibly” (and) takes aim at the solemn presentation of the proof of Hamas’s crimes… She said that the solemn evening veered into “agitprop”. ”

“While Ms. Zoratti might have a political agenda, and while she might want to gas light in the tradition of her Marxist forbearers, the facts are the facts… To top off this tripe, Ms. Zoratti abused her presence at this earnest evening to accuse Israel of apartheid.”

31:32 Part 4- WJR editor Rhonda Spivak piled on another problem for Samyn, after Faith reporter John Longhurst tweeted “great column” to Zoratti.

“(He) has set back interfaith relations… How does Longhurst propose to repair that which he has damaged?”

And, we wonder, how will his boss?

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