There is no stigma attached to reading the Toronto Star. As Canada’s largest circulation daily newspaper, it sets a reasonably high standard, has some very good writers and columnists and it does not take too long to find where they have hidden the comics and horoscopes each day. Why Toronto Mayor Rob Ford hates the Star is therefore a puzzler.
It is not as though, the Toronto mayor can win any arguments with the newspaper. It is no skin off the Toronto Star editors’ noses if he does not invite the Star’s reporters into his inner sanctum at city hall. They will report with or with out the mayor’s cooperation. All that his cooperation could achieve is a fairer interpretation of the mayor’s side on the issues of the day.
The mayor needs to remind himself that the pseudo-left wing editorial stance of the paper has nothing to do with the worker bees out trying to get their quota of stories for the day. He should identify himself with the board of Torstar, the company that owns the Toronto Star Newspaper. Rob Ford would be surprised to discover that most Torstar board members are his kind of people.
Think of it, the Torstar board are the people who own and make money off Harlequin Romances. These are the people who are spreading illiteracy across Ontario with local newspapers designed to wrap weekly grocery flyers. These disgusting local publications set new records every week in speed to recycling. Torstar’s local publications can make Sun Newspapers seem literate.
Unlike television news where you can give up on CTV during the saccharine period of Toy Mountain Time and switch to Global, switching newspapers is much more difficult. Admittedly, the Globe and Mail does a much better job on business news than the Star but the crossword is so damn difficult. If you can learn to move your lips as you read, you can switch to the Toronto Sun. Besides, reading the Toronto Sun will leave you with an extra hour each day to do something important. Yes, we know there is a Toronto paper called the National Post, but no liberal would be caught dead with a copy.
It is time for reconciliation. Just think of the front page picture of John Honderich, chair of Torstar, in his trademark bowtie, locking lips with Mayor Ford in front of City Hall. Bring your cell phones, a YouTube of that will go viral.
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Copyright 2011 © Peter Lowry
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