Barbara Amiel - Career in Journalism

Career in Journalism

Amiel has been a longtime columnist for Maclean's magazine (1977–present) noted for her conservative political views. In the late 1960s Amiel was a story editor and on-camera presence for CBC TV Public Affairs. In the 1970s she was intermittently on contract with both CTV and TV Ontario. By Persons Unknown: The Strange Death of Christine Demeter (1978), which she co-authored with her second husband, won The Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Fact Crime book. She was a columnist for the Toronto Sun in the 1980s and 1990s, also serving as the daily's editor from 1983 until 1985 (making her the first female to edit a daily metropolitan newspaper in Canada) before returning to Britain.

From 1986 to 1994, Amiel was a columnist for The Times and The Sunday Times. In 1994, she moved to the Daily Telegraph, owned by her fourth husband. She has served as vice-president, editorial of Hollinger International, the holding company Conrad Black controlled.

In December 2001, she caused a small sensation by reporting, in The Spectator, remarks alleged to have been uttered by the then-French ambassador to the UK, Daniel Bernard. He was shown by Amiel as having described Israel as "that shitty little country." Amiel has also been criticized for writing articles that portray Arabs and Islam in a derogatory fashion.

In 2003, she attacked BBC current affairs coverage, claiming that it has been seen as a "bad joke" for decades. Amiel lost her position as a columnist on the Daily Telegraph in mid-2004 after civil suits were exchanged between her husband and The Telegraph's parent company in the wake of a corporate battle which led to criminal charges being laid against Black in late 2005 and a trial in Chicago in 2007. In 2005, she rejoined Maclean's as a columnist under its new editor, Kenneth Whyte.

A biography of the couple by Tom Bower, Conrad and Lady Black: Dancing on the Edge, featuring an unflattering portrayal of Amiel, was published in November 2006. The book has been denounced by Black in The Daily Telegraph and Black filed a suit in Canada against its author.