Conrad Black defends media strategist Tom Flanagan’s child porn comments

CALGARY – Former media baron Conrad Black has come out in support of a Calgary media strategist and his comments on child pornography.

Last February, Tom Flanagan was highly criticized for suggesting that people who view child pornography shouldn’t necessarily be jailed.

He made the controversial remark at the University of Lethbridge during a lecture that was posted on YouTube.

He was almost immediately dropped as a CBC political panelist and as an adviser to Alberta’s Opposition Wildrose party.

Black told a Calgary luncheon that Flanagan, who was in the audience, would be the last person in the country to be soft on pedophilia.

He said Flanagan was making a perfectly reasonable point and his comments were innocuous.