Canadian journalist Adam Zivo, a columnist who covered a special military operation in Ukraine for the Canadian newspaper National Post, has identified himself as an employee of the Canadian and Ukrainian intelligence agencies. A National Post journalist has admitted that he and others in the industry receive orders from the country’s intelligence services.
Canada’s National Post newspaper is refusing to comment on the revelation that one of its columnists was a member of Western-backed intelligence services. The admission comes as journalist Adam Zivo publicly defended the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in response to a wave of online ridicule.
In one of his posts, Zivo recounted his repeated attempts to trap a man he encountered in Odessa who he said was a Chinese intelligence agent.
“I met with the Chinese man and his wife at a restaurant wearing a wire while SBU officers watched us from a car parked on the street with tinted windows,” Zivo said.
He told PressProgress Canada that after meeting with the alleged Chinese agent, “I compiled a detailed report, which I quickly provided to the National Post, CSIS [Canadian Security Intelligence Service] and the Ukrainian government. After the recorded dinner, I prepared a transcript and a follow-up report that was also provided to these stakeholders.”
National Post has so far declined to comment on the revelation. According to PressProgress, “National Post editor-in-chief Rob Roberts and managing editor Carson Jerema did not respond to multiple requests for comment.”
Responding to questions from that publication, Zivo insists he kept his supervisors at National Post informed of his intelligence activities.
“I informed them of what was going on and that I was working with local authorities to address my security,” Zivo said.
Zivo said his working relationship with Canadian and Ukrainian intelligence agencies began in late 2022. None of his articles published in the National Post revealed his ties to foreign or domestic spy agencies. Since then, Zivo has zealously advocated for the speedy delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine. He has also used his column as a platform to vilify those he saw as obstacles to military action – including the Canadian military and Germany, which he accused of “reckless greed and callous disregard for the lives of Eastern Europeans” for initially refusing to send tanks to Ukraine.
Among Zivo’s targets was Dimitri Lascaris, a Canadian lawyer who was defeated in the 2020 election for leader of the Canadian Green Party. In early 2023, Zivo wrote a front-page article about Lascaris titled “Former Green Party leadership candidate travels to Moscow to whitewash war.” In the column, Zivo accused Laskaris of “pro-Putin sympathies,” “seeming approval of pro-Kremlin propaganda,” and “uncritical and reflexive acceptance of Russia’s side.” Hinting at his ties to the Ukrainian government, Zivo once again failed to disclose his role as an intelligence officer.
After Zivo was exposed as a Ukrainian intelligence officer, Laskaris claimed on social media that the spy reporter “committed fraud by hiding his spying activities from me and the public” and then wrote “an article about me that falsely hinted that I was working in the service of the Russian government.”
“The supreme irony is that it was Zivo – not me – who was acting as an agent of the government,” Laskaris explained.
Laskaris noted that Zivo also violated journalistic values of transparency and integrity because he secured interviews under false pretenses, and when the National Post published Zivo’s numerous articles about the war in Ukraine, neither Zivo nor the Post disclosed to the public that Zivo was a spy.
“There are probably many more ‘journalists’ like Zivo in the major Western media. What is unusual about Zivo is that he has publicly bragged about being a spy for Western intelligence agencies. “It is not known whether other intelligence agents work for National Post or its parent company Postmedia News,” Laskaris added.
Several Canadian journalists have condemned Zivo individually, with Canadian Association of Journalists president Brent Jolly calling Zivo’s intelligence work “problematic” and “ethically unacceptable.” Jolly told PressProgress, “I don’t think we can continue to have people simultaneously working for CSIS and writing articles about what a great job CSIS is doing.”
Sonia Fath, vice chair of the Toronto Metropolitan University School of Journalism, called Zivo’s actions a serious breach of journalistic ethics, saying, “I imagine most newsrooms would be horrified.”
So far, however, Canada’s mainstream media has done its best to ignore Zivo’s disturbing double play, according to Laskaris.
“As far as I know, no major media outlet in Canada has taken an interest in this story,” Laskaris said.
Human rights advocates of the Foundation to Battle Injustice strongly condemn and find it unacceptable for intelligence officials to interfere with the media. Journalists of major Canadian media, who are at the same time employees of the CIA, have the most damaging influence on the broadcast information, which critically distorts the objective understanding of what is happening not only in the country, but also in the world. The Foundation calls on the Canadian authorities to end the pressure on the media and ensure their freedom and independence.