Margaret Wente
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Margaret Wente (born 15 February 1950) is a Canadian journalist and was a long-time columnist for ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' until August 2019. She received the
National Newspaper Award The National Newspaper Awards (french: link=no, Concours canadien de journalisme) are prizes awarded annually for the best work in Canadian newspapers. Synopsis The awards were first given in 1949 by the Toronto Press Club, which ran the awards un ...
for column-writing in 2000 and 2001. In 2012, Wente was found to have plagiarized on a number of occasions. She was suspended from writing her column, but later reinstated. However, in 2016, she was found to have failed to meet her newspaper's attribution standards in two more columns.


Early life and education

Wente was born in
Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...
and moved to
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
in 1964 when her mother married a Canadian. She has since become a naturalized Canadian citizen. She holds a BA in English from the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
and an MA in English from the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
. In 2004 Margaret Wente published ''Accidental Canadian'', her autobiographical account of becoming a
columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...
at The Globe & Mail. Though Wente did her undergraduate college studies in
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...
, every year from May through August she returned to Toronto to serve tables at The Coffee Mill, a Hungarian
restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...
in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood: :I schlepped espressos and salami sandwiches, oceans of goulash and mountains of pastries and gallons of orange frappes. he Coffee Milloffered a hint of continental sophistication in a city that was still hopelessly parochial….Some of the customers were genuine writers…In nice weather they could sit outdoors on a
terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk a ...
…I was serving the
intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...
…I wore a white polyester apron with a miniskirt and high-heeled sandals. (p 41) After graduating from University of Michigan, she felt that the U.S. was in a "dark phase, torn apart by the politics of Vietnam"; she chose to live and work in Canada.


Career

Wente was "hired right out of university to be a book publicist" (p 20). Her first assignment was a book on the
Summit Series The Summit Series, Super Series 72, Canada–USSR Series (russian: Суперсерия СССР — Канада, Superseriya SSSR — Kanada), or Series of the Century (french: Série du siècle, Séries of the Century), was an eight-game ic ...
, a confrontation in 1972 of national
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
teams from Canada and Russia. She did her job and spent time with the coach, but in her own memoir shows her opinion: : ockeyis a sport where they send their big star out to play after he's had his seventh
concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, ...
. He says he's fine, but how would he know? His brain has turned to scrambled eggs. (p 23) She claims "Hockey does not promote civic engagement. It destroys it" (p 24). Wente was hired by ''The Globe and Mail'' in 1986. For a time, she was editor of the paper's business section, the ''ROB'' (''Report on Business''), and managing editor of the paper. In 1992 she became a regular
columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...
for ''The Globe and Mail''. She is a frequent commentator on television and radio, and has won several journalism awards. In June 2019, Wente accepted a buyout from ''The Globe and Mail''. Her last column with the newspaper was published on 31 August 2019.


Incidents of plagiarism

In September 2012, Wente was found to have committed plagiarism by
Carol Wainio Carol Wainio (born 1955) is a Canadian painter. Her work, known for its visual complexity and monochrome color palette, has been exhibited in major art galleries in Canada, the U.S., Europe and China. She has won multiple awards, including the ...
, a blogger and artist who accused Wente of lifting quotes and rewording passages from published sources without credit. Wainio documents on her blog, Media Culpa, a series of columns and articles published from 2009 to 2012, which plagiarize sources including the ''
Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...
'', the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' and ''
Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...
''. On 21 September 2012, the ''Globe and Mail''s public editor addressed the allegations, conceding that "there appears to be some truth to the accusations but not on every charge". ''The Globe and Mail'' subsequently took unspecified punitive actions against Wente for a column written in 2009. Editor John Stackhouse acknowledged that "the journalism in this instance did not meet the standards of The Globe and Mail", noting that the work in question was "unacceptable". However, Wente continued to write for the ''Globe and Mail''. Wente herself wrote a column to defend herself against accusations of being a "serial plagiarist" but acknowledged she was "extremely careless". She took a break from writing her column for a week. On 11 October she resumed with a column explaining her actions and offered an apology. She was also suspended from
CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...
where she appeared as a biweekly media panelist on the program '' Q'' due to her not meeting the CBC's journalistic standards as a result of the 2009 incident. In 2016, the ''Globe and Mail'' confirmed two additional incidents of plagiarism by Wente. Editor-in-chief
David Walmsley ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
stated: "This work fell short of our standards, something that we apologize for. It shouldn't have happened and the Opinion team will be working with Peggy to ensure this cannot happen again."


Rape culture denial controversy

In her ''Globe and Mail'' column, on Saturday, 1 March 2014, Wente criticized Canadian universities for their response to the Saint Mary's rape chant controversy, in particular their view that all drunken sex is rape. She went on to argue that rape culture is a fiction and that the concept of affirmative consent is part of the "war on men". Wente's column was subsequently referred to as "irresponsible nonsense" by fellow journalists Toula Drimonis and Ethan Cox.


Massey College appointment

Wente was appointed as a 2020–2021 senior fellow and member of the Quadrangle Society at Massey College, in June 2020. Her appointment caused an uproar among faculty and students, both because of past allegations against her of
plagiarism Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...
, and due to her writings on issues of race and gender.
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
professor Alissa Trotz resigned from her senior fellowship as well as her positions on the college's Governing Board and Governance and Nominating Committee in protest of what she called the college's "non-transparent mechanisms of selection," referring to Wente as "someone who has demonstrated consistent and outright hostility to questions of equity, women and gender studies and anti-racism, and moreover someone who has demonstrated such a glaring lack of professional integrity." Senior
fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...
s Rick Halpern and
George Dei George Jerry Sefa Dei is a professor at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. He is known for his anti-racist research, particularly on anti-racist approaches to education. He is also known for his advocacy for Afr ...
also resigned their positions in protest of Wente's appointment. One day after the appointment was made, the college announced that it was reviewing the appointment and Wente's "writings and conduct to assess whether they are consistent with the college’s values". On 22 June 2020, Wente wrote the college's governing council to inform them of her resignation from the position, stating "I do not wish to be a member of the Quadrangle Society. The accusations against me are false and outrageous. My record speaks for itself". In July, historian Margaret MacMillan resigned her senior fellowship in protest of the college's decision to review Wente's appointment.


Other roles

Wente was formerly a director of the Energy Probe Research Foundation.https://www.oeb.ca/oeb/_Documents/Documents/Energy_Probe_annual_filing_2015.pdf


Publications

* 1975: ''"I Never Say Anything Provocative:" Witticisms, Anecdotes, and Reflections by Canada's Most Outspoken Politician, John G. Diefenbaker,'' Peter Martin Associates, . (Compiler and Editor) * 2004: ''An Accidental Canadian: Reflections on My Home and (Not) Native Land'', HarperCollins, . * 2009: ''You Can't'' Say ''That in Canada'', HarperCollins, .


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wente, Margaret 1950 births Living people American emigrants to Canada Canadian columnists Female critics of feminism Writers from Chicago Writers from Toronto University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni University of Toronto alumni The Globe and Mail columnists Canadian women journalists Canadian social commentators Canadian women columnists People involved in plagiarism controversies Canadian women non-fiction writers Massey College, Toronto