Toronto Sun
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The Toronto Sun is a large English language daily newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is published as a tabloid and is renowned for its daily Sunshine Girl feature, and for its populist conservative editorial stance.
The Sun was first published on November 1, 1971, the Monday after the demise of the Toronto Telegram, a conservative broadsheet newspaper.
Toronto Sun headlines are often blatantly editorialized and make heavy use of sensationalist and vernacular language. On September 12, 2001, the paper's front page featured only an image of the previous day's events and the headline, "BASTARDS!". The paper has frequently used such tactics when covering events in the political arena. For example, the day following a federal election call by Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin of the Liberal Party of Canada on May 24, 2004, the Sun, which is arguably the staunchest and most vocal opponent of the Liberals of any media outlet in Canada, ran a front-page picture of Mr. Martin along with the headline "Throw the Bums Out!". Several weeks prior to that headline, when former Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leader Joe Clark insinuated he would support the Liberals, rather than the newly-minted Conservative Party of Canada, in an impending federal election, the headline in the Sun the following day read "Joe Blows".
The Sun has also at times come under fire for its envelope-pushing editorial content. For example, on July 23, 2004, editorial cartoonist Andy Donato provoked a signicant degree of public criticism for depicting Toronto Mayor David Miller as Adolf Hitler, after Mr. Miller invoked closure on a debate at city hall. After some initial resistance, Senior Associate Editor Lorrie Goldstein ultimately apologized for the cartoon.
As of 2003, the Sun reportedly had a Monday through Saturday circulation of 200,000 papers and Sunday circulation of 400,000.
The Sun is owned by Sun Media, a subsidiary of Quebecor.
The Toronto Sun's format has given rise to sister Sun tabloids in major markets across Canada, namely the Edmonton Sun, the Calgary Sun and the Ottawa Sun. The Winnipeg Sun was originally launched by independent interests, only later coming under common ownership to the Toronto Sun and subsequently eliciting a redesign in Sun Media style.
The Vancouver Sun is not owned by Sun Media, but another conservative conglomerate, CanWest Global. While its audience differs, its political agenda is the same.
The Toronto Sun's first editor was Peter Worthington who remains a columnist for the paper. He was succeeded by Barbara Amiel who, in turn, was succeed by John Downing.
See Also
External links
- Toronto Sun Homepage (http://torontosun.com/)
- Article on the Sun (http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/news/2003/05may/030522sun.shtml) - includes rough circulation info
- Lorrie Goldstein's apology for Donato's Hitler cartoon (http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Lorrie_Goldstein/2004/07/28/559386.html)Template:News-stub