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How Toronto’s Papers Covered The First Day Of Summer
In Front Page Challenge, Torontoist analyzes the best and worst of Toronto’s major dailies.
Photo by Christopher Hylarides from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
There is a fascinating contradiction on the front page of Toronto’s daily papers this morning. It is officially summertime, and yet many of today’s dailies are covering recent developments in the world of hockey, with a marquee player signing with the Leafs and continuing turmoil and rumours of on-air musical chairs at the venerable Canadian television institution Hockey Night In Canada (which has not turned out to be the cash cow Rogers anticipated when it took over control of the program from CBC two years ago). Which of Toronto’s dailies will seize the glory and take home this week’s trophy?
The Globe and Mail
Canada’s National Newspaper™ is all about documenting major developments coming out of Ottawa this morning, leading with a breakthrough agreement with most of the provinces to expand the Canada Pension Plan (representing the first significant increase in benefits in 50 years). There’s also coverage of the government’s substantial efforts to diversify the judiciary (only three white males were among the first 15 appointments), and Ottawa’s plan for a wholesale review of the country’s process for approving resource projects. The Globe commemorates the end of their ongoing Conflict Photographer series with a compelling photo of a U.S. soldier under duress during the 1968 Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War; this feature has documented the psychological toll taken on photographers tasked with documenting battle. And surprise, surprise: Margaret Wente is somewhat sympathetic to the “leave” side in the Brexit debate; despite last weekend’s murder of a Labour MP by an unhinged supporter of the movement, she says “they may have a point.”
National Post
The Post features two stories about the ongoing quagmire of Canadian involvement in Afghanistan: a bombing in Kabul that killed 14 Neoalese guards en route to the Canadian embassy, and documents obtained by Postmedia News accusing Canadian military police of terrorizing Afghan prisoners in their cells at Kandahar airfield, apparently operating there without major oversight. The Post criticizes Hockey Night In Canada, blaming their recent ratings trouble on the “glitzy” soullessness of Rogers’ approach to the broadcasts. And cinema buffs will appreciate that only the National Post is providing front-page coverage of the recent “fan edit” online of 30 minutes of footage from Jerry Lewis’ notorious and never released 1972 Holocaust comedy The Day The Clown Cried, which was recently donated to the Library of Congress along with the rest of his films under the condition that it is not to be screened until the year 2025, presumably after Jerry’s death.
Toronto Star
The Star leads with tomorrow’s expected apology from Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders for the notorious 1981 bathhouse raids where more than 300 men were rounded up and arrested, sparking protests and activism in the city’s LGBTQ community. (Saunders is expected to march in the Pride Parade.) The Star also features a somewhat alarmist story on the top of A1 warning of elevated threats of domestic terrorism committed by homegrown jihadists radicalized overseas and now “eager to die for the cause.” The Panama Papers series continues with the latest Canadian connection, a middleman in an international corruption scheme who was recently given an honorary degree from York University after donating $20 million to the school. And Vinay Menon says the recent turmoil around Hockey Night In Canada‘s slumping ratings is due not to the on-air talent but to the fact that the sport…is boring!
Metro Toronto
This morning’s Metro is jam-packed with front-page excitement. Two top stories revolve around Toronto’s parks, with an impending crackdown on bylaws to combat the current crime wave of dogs off-leash, and a followup on last week’s freak accident where a man was killed by a falling tree branch in Trinity-Bellwoods Park, although the choice of the headline quote may trigger a Kylie Minogue earworm. Metro also covers two up-and-coming local tourist attractions: the Canary District, developed as the athletes’ village for the Pan-Am Games and described here as “T.O.’s Hot Hot ‘Hood,” and a tiny vacant bungalow on Sheppard Avenue West that has seen plenty of action lately as a flashpoint for “international intrigue, diplomatic headaches, [and] terrorism.” (It turns out the property is owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran, and there’s a fight in the courts to turn over the house and its assets to compensate American victims of state-sponsored terror.)
Toronto Sun
The Sun gives over almost all of the front page to the world of hockey this morning. Its gloating headline “Bye George, Ron’s Back!” celebrates the impending removal of Hockey Night In Canada host George Stroumboulopoulos (who only took the job two years ago) to be replaced by fan favourite Ron MacLean. The Sun describes this as a happy day for traditionalist hockey fans who thought of Strombo as a hipster interloper, not a venerable classic institutional figure like MacLean (HNIC is one of the few CBC shows Sun readers wholeheartedly endorse, even though the things that bother them now about the program are in fact associated with tinkering with the format by the private sector). The Sun also celebrates the Leafs acquiring hot goalie Frederik Andersen in a trade with the Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks. Compellingly the Sun also includes the front-page headline “Man Tries To Assassinate Trump” (although why this eyebrow-raising story is buried on page 42 cannot be explained).
This week’s winner: Though the jury would like to commend the National Post for putting a photo of Jerry Lewis as a sad-faced clown on the front page, this week’s winner is the Toronto Star for putting the spotlight on the long-overdue apology from Toronto police for their regrettable actions in the bathhouse raids; it’s a moment in our city’s history that may or may not be forgiven but shouldn’t be forgotten, and it places the Star back in a first place tie in our weekly standings.
Happy Pride!
| Newspaper | Number of Wins |
|---|---|
| Metro | 9 |
| Toronto Star | 9 |
| Toronto Sun | 8 |
| National Post | 5 |
| Globe and Mail | 3 |
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