Jen Gerson of the National Post co-hosts.

Jen and Jesse talk about why Canadian media has so many boots on the ground to report on U.S. politics. Why we can’t leave the American coverage to American?

As the Ghomeshi trial continues, reporters make mistakes in court and the Twitter eggs come out in full force.

Jen’s Twitter: @jengerson

NOTE FROM JESSE: 

I got out of my depth in this episode by wading into legal analysis: I should stick to the media. I research what I think I’ll be getting into on Short Cuts, but then we have an unscripted conversation; in this case it led me to offering legal analysis that turned out to be just plain wrong.

Based on this Globe and Mail article I had it in my head that the law doesn’t actually care about consent when it comes to BDSM. The part I forgot was that consent is only a non-factor when the assault results “in bodily harm” which seems to be determined by whether or not it leaves a mark or causes injury. In the case of the current plaintiffs, the Crown is not arguing that bodily harm was caused, so (as I understand it) consent does matter, contrary to what I said on the show.

None of which is to say that consent was granted in these cases. If I believed it had been, I would not have reported on the allegations.