The Toronto Star ran another anti-casino story last Friday. This was not an editorial. It was not even supposed to be an opinion piece. The story was above the fold on the front page of the GTA section—supposedly a collection of news reports concerning the Greater Toronto Area. This story was headlined: Anti-casino forces like odds. The subhead went on to explain: Survey of city councillors shows few support efforts to bring gambling facility to Toronto.
Welcome to the Toronto Star’s version of responsible journalism. This article says 21 of Toronto’s 45-member city council were interviewed. It seems that of the 21 interviewed, 11 of them were opposed to a downtown casino or were leaning that way. Somehow half of the councillors surveyed approved of a casino at Woodbine. You would normally blame the writer for such a confused story but, in this case, the blame should be shared with the headline writer and the editor responsible.
The objective of the story was obviously to promote a new “No Casino Toronto” organization. To quote the Star, this is a group that has grown from three concerned women to “a citywide, social media-savvy force.” It has already spent $3200 and is spending more to hand out 1000 lawn signs. And if the Toronto Star had not reported this, nobody would have noticed.
The group should probably not waste any more money. Their friends at the Toronto Star have much deeper pockets and are going to do their best to torpedo any downtown casino. Besides, the group reports that they have had a recent surge of activity on their Facebook site and Twitter account. They think they have turned the corner. They believe that their warnings of inflated benefits, and social and economic ills can defeat the casino “Goliaths.” Obviously this negative group are contributing no new knowledge to the discussion and are just repeating the same old unfounded claims of the poor working man being duped of his hard-earned wages. They obviously know nothing about gambling’s contribution in the entertainment industry or anything about the fun of gambling.
They think they are opposing large industry behemoths that are out to rape and pillage on their city streets. They appear totally ignorant of the illegal gambling in Toronto and the criminal element that this activity supports. They should take the time to find out more about what they are talking about. And so should the Toronto Star.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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