Toronto Sun

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The Toronto Sun is an English language daily newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is published as a tabloid and is known 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. As there was no publishing gap between the two papers and many writers and employees moved to the new paper, it is today generally considered as a direct continuation of the Telegram, and the Sun is the holder of the Telegram archives.

The Toronto Sun is modeled on British tabloid journalism, even borrowing the name of The Sun newspaper published in London, and some of the features, including the Sunshine Girl, who was on the same page as the British paper. (The Toronto paper, however, has never had a "topless" Sunshine Girl, unlike its British counterpart.)

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 first editor was Peter Worthington who remains a columnist for the paper. He was succeeded by Barbara Amiel who, in turn, was succeeded by John Downing.

1 Controversy and use of sensationalism
2 Sister papers
3 Current Sun writers
4 Sun alumni
5 See also
6 Notes
7 External links

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Controversy and use of sensationalism

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 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. Template:Note

An August 6, 2004 article by Peter Worthington was subject to a claim by NOW Magazine that he quoted information received from the website www.pulledoutofmyass.com.

The paper, which boasts the slogan "Toronto's Other Voice" and was also once called "The Little Paper that Grew," acquired a television station in 2005. SunTV rose from the ashes of Toronto1, an ill-fated experiment by Manitoba-based Craigmedia.

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Sister papers

The Toronto Sun's format has given rise to sister Sun tabloids in major markets across Canada, namely the Edmonton Sun, the Calgary Sun, the Ottawa Sun and most recently the Brampton Sun and York Sun, weekend-only papers distributed as sections of the Toronto edition. The Winnipeg Sun was originally launched by independent interests, only later coming under common ownership to the Toronto Sun, which subsequently elicited a redesign in Sun Media style.

The Vancouver Sun is not owned by Sun Media, but by CanWest Global. The Vancouver Sun is a broadsheet, not a tabloid; the Vancouver Province, also owned by CanWest Global, is that market's traditional tabloid daily.

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