After 3 stories we can now piece together how the story unfolded.
Good journalists know, the timeline tells the tale.
1) Thursday Nov. 6, 6 AM- Gordon Sinclair Jr. column, "It's a libel to label entitled generation" published in FP delivered to Winnipeg homes.
Sinclair wrote "Chantel explained she expected to be evicted Friday" and quoted her as saying "I'm on the brink of being homeless with my daughter."
2) Sinclair's neighbour Cliff King was first to contribute, cutting a cheque to pay the rent. ("Winnipeggers swoop in to help single mom" Nov. 8th.)
3) Later Thursday, Chantel's 10 co-workers passed the hat and gave her $600. ("Winnipeggers swoop in to help single mom" Nov. 8th.)
4) Thursday night, Sinclair drove to her house to deliver the cheque to cover the rent. He noted sled tracks leading to the door. Chantel said she and her daughter had been out delivering flyers. ("There's more to needy young mother's story", Nov. 15th).
5) The story began to twist when about the same time, blogger Jim Cotton posts that he recognizes Henderson from a speech she made at the Manitoba legislature on Bill 38.
6) Friday morning, Chantel's co-worker took to her to pay the back rent. Later that day, Sinclair sent another envelope to her, with $1,100 in cash and cheques. ("There's more to needy young mother's story", Nov. 15th).
Henderson now had $1700 and her rent paid.
7) Friday afternoon in her bulletin to readers, FP editor Margo Goodhand promotes the follow-up story as "Heartwarming news--
Generous Winnipeggers have stepped up to help a young single mom who was facing eviction from her west end home. Gordon Sinclair Jr. has the story."
8) Wanting credit for an act of humanitarianism, the FP takes a picture of Henderson with the envelope for the next days' column.
9) Friday night/ Sat AM - At one of downtown's few late-night hangouts, Cotton crosses paths with Henderson and sarcastically blogs about seeing her drinking, thinking her rent had not been paid.
10) Saturday 6 AM, Sinclair's follow-up column "Winnipeggers swoop in to help single mom" is published, with the picture of Henderson and the $1100 envelope. He claims " I didn't have to ask anyone to help, and I didn't."
11) Saturday noon - Cotton, after reading the column and realizing why she was out drinking the night before, walks through Polo Park mall. He sees Henderson again, this time with her daughter, their "hands full of shopping bags from high-end stores".
13) Sunday or Monday - Henderson's cousin emails Sinclair, complaining Chantel was out partying that weekend with the money from donors. At this point, Sinclair knew he had a problem.
14) His problem got worse the next day, Monday, November 10th - The Great Canadian Talk Show posts a blog about how listeners had raised hard questions about Sinclair's two stories. Had she actually gotten an eviction notice? Had she appealed the eviction to Tenancies Branch? Had she applied for welfare?
15) The next day (Tuesday Nov. 11th), the heat on Sinclair was turned up even more when another blogger who has had enough of Sinclair's games spoke out.
On progressivewinnipeg.blogspot.com Graham Hnatiuk asked "Is it crossing the line to call for the impeachment of this "award winning" "journalist?"
16) Hours after the call for his dismissal was posted, on Tuesday night Sinclair phoned Henderson ( "There's more to needy young mother's story", Nov. 15th).
17) The heat went past the boiling point on Wednesday Nov. 12th. TGCTS reported about a Hill Times analysis attacking the credibility of stories in the Winnipeg Free Press.
The article showed how the newspaper had manufactured concerns about a politician's personal life, then used their own stories as proof of him being controversial. No actual "concerned" voters were ever quoted.
18) Gordon Sinclair and the Free Press knew they had to address a real controversy and not one of their inventions.
In Sinclair's Saturday Nov. 15th column "There's more to needy young mother's story", Sinclair scrambled to assemble a defence.
* Henderson admitted to a shopping spree -- but claimed it was at Wal-Mart;
* She claimed that (after paying the back rent) "she had spent $1,500, most of it paying off debts, including money she borrowed from her mother";
* She admitted she was drinking - Saturday night at her mother's house.
* She admitted that she had left her 12 year old daughter at home alone.
And Sinclair took a cheap shot at Henderson's cousin who had emailed him, trying to portray her first hand account as coming from an envious publicity-seeking relative.
He also said he had another $3750 to give Henderson.
21) Sinclair conceded he had misled readers into believing Henderson was going to be left on the street with her daughter within 24 hours and admitted the blogosphere had shamed him into telling more of the truth.
But his "apology" does nothing to restore the credibility of the Free Press, so aptly shredded by the Hill Times, Winnipeg bloggers, and talk radio listeners.22) The one loose end that he has not addressed, is whether Henderson had been delivering flyers for the FP owned subsidiary.
Was she short for her rent because of the Free Press strike? The employees union interrupted flyer deliveries to pressure management to settle.
In other words, was striking employee Gordon Sinclair responsible for Henderson's rent arrears in the first place?
