Zombie-News Brain-Death

Tu Thanh Ha and Greg Mercer / Published July 21, 2025

Part of the MH Care Scandal series.

A Globe and Mail reporter investigating allegations of political interference at Alberta’s provincial health authority has been targeted by an anonymous account on X, which posted surreptitiously obtained photographs of her in public settings and described her private movements.

Pictures of Calgary correspondent Carrie Tait meeting two women, who are former political staffers in the government of Premier Danielle Smith, were posted earlier this month by an account calling itself The Brokedown.

Details about the photographs were also posted beforehand by a podcaster, who made references in a video to a meal that Ms. Tait attended. He confirmed to The Globe that he was supplied with the photographs in advance of their posting on X. Separately, someone disguised a phone number to look like Ms. Tait’s mobile number to make calls to multiple people. [snip]

The X account was launched this month. In one of its first posts, it promised it would “start exposing Carrie Tait’s sources in the continuing health care saga. You are not going to want to miss this!” [snip]

For the past five months, Ms. Tait has been writing about allegations from Athana Mentzelopoulos, the former chief executive of Alberta Health Services, the agency that administers public health care in the province.

Two weeks before the photographs were posted online, several contacts of Ms. Tait received phone calls where her number appeared on their call display. While none of the individuals spoke with anyone on the calls – one person answered but nobody replied – all of them reached out to Ms. Tait to ask why she was calling.

An examination of Ms. Tait’s phone records showed no evidence of any outgoing calls, suggesting the number was “spoofed” to make it appear she was calling these individuals. [snip]

Kathryn Marshall, a lawyer for the two women who appear in the photographs alongside Ms. Tait, said her clients have also received threatening text messages, which she believes are part of a “stalking” effort to prevent people with links to government from speaking with journalists. [snip]

She said the photos posted online appear to have been taken through private surveillance – an expensive and time-consuming process. Whoever hired this person or people to conduct this surveillance is clearly motivated to put a chill on Ms. Tait and anyone who might be thinking of speaking with her, she said.

“You’ve got to start thinking about, well, what is she writing about, and who would be interested in silencing her?” Ms. Marshall said. [snip][end]

Globe and Mail reporter targeted by online campaign, photographed surreptitiously in public settings [selections]

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3 min read

Tu Thanh Ha and Greg Mercer / Published July 21, 2025

Part of the MH Care Scandal series.

A Globe and Mail reporter investigating allegations of political interference at Alberta’s provincial health authority has been targeted by an anonymous account on X, which posted surreptitiously obtained photographs of her in public settings and described her private movements.

Pictures of Calgary correspondent Carrie Tait meeting two women, who are former political staffers in the government of Premier Danielle Smith, were posted earlier this month by an account calling itself The Brokedown.

Details about the photographs were also posted beforehand by a podcaster, who made references in a video to a meal that Ms. Tait attended. He confirmed to The Globe that he was supplied with the photographs in advance of their posting on X. Separately, someone disguised a phone number to look like Ms. Tait’s mobile number to make calls to multiple people. [snip]

The X account was launched this month. In one of its first posts, it promised it would “start exposing Carrie Tait’s sources in the continuing health care saga. You are not going to want to miss this!” [snip]

For the past five months, Ms. Tait has been writing about allegations from Athana Mentzelopoulos, the former chief executive of Alberta Health Services, the agency that administers public health care in the province.

Two weeks before the photographs were posted online, several contacts of Ms. Tait received phone calls where her number appeared on their call display. While none of the individuals spoke with anyone on the calls – one person answered but nobody replied – all of them reached out to Ms. Tait to ask why she was calling.

An examination of Ms. Tait’s phone records showed no evidence of any outgoing calls, suggesting the number was “spoofed” to make it appear she was calling these individuals. [snip]

Kathryn Marshall, a lawyer for the two women who appear in the photographs alongside Ms. Tait, said her clients have also received threatening text messages, which she believes are part of a “stalking” effort to prevent people with links to government from speaking with journalists. [snip]

She said the photos posted online appear to have been taken through private surveillance – an expensive and time-consuming process. Whoever hired this person or people to conduct this surveillance is clearly motivated to put a chill on Ms. Tait and anyone who might be thinking of speaking with her, she said.

“You’ve got to start thinking about, well, what is she writing about, and who would be interested in silencing her?” Ms. Marshall said. [snip][end]