The Curious Case Of The Disappearing Quote

So, as I mentioned a couple of days ago, T.O. Sun reporter Kevin Connor wrote up a short piece re last week's protest outside of the Israeli consulate on Bloor Street.  Probably the most notable thing about it was the apology that soon appeared above its first paragraph:

A version of this story that briefly appeared on torontosun.com contained quotes wrongly attributed to Bernie Farber, former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress. The Sun regrets the error and apologizes to Mr. Farber.

I've emailed both the reporter and his boss (James Wallace) for clarification, but have received no response.  However,  here's the thing.  There are not many ways the fake quote (which can be seen here) could have made its way into the story.

1) Connor might have invented it, which is a firing offence.  Its also difficult to believe.

2) It could have originated with someone at the protest who decided to impersonate Farber as a means of embarrassing him/damaging his reputation.  This appears to be the opinion of blogger Arnie Lemaire, who also attended--ie The Sun got punk'd.  But in this instance, such a prank would have amounted to an illegal act.

And I would point out that someone has recently been impersonating the various players in the small circle of activists/culture warriors that involve themselves in the issues that Bernie also cares about.  For example, here . Furthermore, among this small circle at least one person has already developed a reputation for getting up to this kind of silliness.

Here's hoping The Sun lives up to its responsibility and at least gives some kind of explanation.  One of their reporters has either done something quite unethical or inadvertently aided a lawbreaker.

Nicholls Makes No Sense

Gerry Nicholls writes of the newspaper coverage of the T.O. mayor's race:

Writes the [Toronto] Sun: “Either Rob Ford or George Smitherman, it appears, will be our next mayor and neither has a fiscal plan worth warm spit.”

And I guess, if an election was akin to some sort of academic exercise the Sun would be right.

However, elections are about politics. And in politics the last thing you want to do is talk about details.

The more details you divulge the more likely you are to drive away potential voters.

Well, Nicholls knows more about politics than I do, but I think he's wrong. Higher up the political food chain--federally and provincially--there is certainly a greater tendency towards vague platitudes, whether you think this is a healthy thing or not. But the municipal level is where the rubber hits the road; if you have a transit plan, then its pretty easy to find out if the numbers add up or not. There are no lower levels of government on which to dump the monetary burden, and fewer thimbles to hide the pea underneath.

One problem, though, is just as The Sun notes: the fiscal plans of all the major T.O. candidates are obviously inadequate. And you can expand this observation to their transit plans as well. Rocco Rossi--who I am still inclined towards--says he will bury the Allen Expressway. Yeah. Sure he will...if a gazillion $s land in his lap. Rob Ford says he'll close the TTC subway loop. Sure he will...if a gazillion $s land in his lap. The only candidate making sense is Joe Pantalone, who's basically holding to the transit city/metrolinx deal already negotiated with the province. And, for me, he's not really a voting option: at this point, the city doesn't need more Miller-lite (or, perhaps, Miller-short). So, there's a dilemma. I can't argue against a Rob Ford candidacy by appealing to the policy platforms of the other contenders; they're all crap.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't trade what has been a fairly high level of media engagement and analysis during this race for the depressing slop currently on offer at the federal level. I'd even go so far as to commend The Sun for the fact while, they are clearly in Ford's corner, they haven't been afraid to rake him over the coals once or twice.

Linda Leatherdale Lands On Feet

Congrats to Linda Leatherdale, the Toronto Sun's booted business editor, for finding a new radio voice on Bill Carroll's morning show on CFRB 1010.

As I've mentioned previously, I've had the pleasure of talking with Linda on 100s of occasions over the years. She even helped me get started in this whole "wannabe journalist" thing way back in the 1990s when I discovered that Toronto's new property assessment regime was going to screw over renters. All you could do back then was write letters to the Ed and call your local business reporter! Primitive times!

Anyway, its nice to see her still able to put food on the table.

Is This The Sun's Future?

A TSF reader snapped this gathering of freebee boxes at Yonge and Finch, steps from a TTC entrance. Is this the Sun's future? Free for the taking to pump up circulation figures for the advertising dollar?


There is nothing wrong with free, but don't expect a commitment to competitive local news coverage.

This was posted on January 8th. Tellingly enough, though, on the 9th a commenter wrote that "it was still full today".

Meanwhile, 24, the Sun's free counterpart, which everyone has assumed is making money, appears to be having problems of its own (click on picture left for clarification).

The Free Market Speaks! Right Wing Media In Toilet X 2!

1) Bourrie at Ottawa Watch has been on the CanWest Death spiral like a vulture on the bloated corpse of a dead cow. Basically, the stock has dipped below $2.00 per share, and this has sparked rumors that the National Post might be sold off. In other words, next time you're at McDonalds keep an eye on the guy behind the counter flipping burgers. It might be Jonathon Kay.

2) The Audit Bureau of Circulations is a not-for-profit circulation organization. It conducts 3rd party audits of newspaper circulation reports so that advertisers and advertising agencies can have accurate, verified figures. Recently, ABC dinged The Toronto Sun for "discrepancies" in their 2007 reporting, and

...said it expects to release an audit report for 2007 within the next 10 days that shows downward circulation adjustments of 11 per cent on the paper's daily circulation, 12 per cent for Saturday papers and 15 per cent for Sunday copies."

Doom, baby, doom!

h/t Sun Family Blog.

When Retired Sun Columnists Blog

In J. Douglas Creighton's case, you get a lively, warts and account of inside workings at the T.O. Sun and in the city itself. When its John Downing, I'm not so sure, all though this rant was entertaining enough:

They [city bureaucrats] have turned amalgamation into a cruel charade. The city hasn't grown that much in four decades, say from 2.15 million to 2.5 million, but the bureaucracy has exploded. Quantity up,quality way down.What we need is term limits, and maybe one term is too long.

Not Waiting For The Asteroid: T.O. Sun Goin' T.U.?

Maybe not, but The Toronto Sun Building at 333 King looks to be "available"--up for sale in other words.

Its business apparently cannibalized by the success of its own free paper, it isn't surprising that the Sun might be looking to downsize. But this Toronto Star article says no decision has been made as to whether their staff will stay in the building as tenants or relocate. Mind you, the Sun management is also claiming that the sale of the building is only being "considered"; well, if its already in this database I'd say the decision has been made already.

By the way, the Urbandb website looks like a definite bookmark. It aims to be

...an online open-content collaborative effort to accurately document development and real-estate activity.

Kind of like a "wiki" for development activity. Probably useful to activists/researchers of all sorts. Currently, the kind of information it wants to offer for free is rather, rather expensive.

h/t J. D Creighton.

Did The Toronto Sun Rip Off Toronto Blogger?

The head honcho at a popular Toronto blog entitled The Torontoist is accusing the Toronto Sun of plagiarism. Here's the original bit from The Torontoist:

Posterchild––street artist extraordinaire and our new curator for Vandalist––has taken it on himself to fill the empty hooks of the TTC's subways, streetcars, and buses with new and improved information flyers. For the past week, he's posted details of one flyer a day to his blog: Monday was a subway and streetcar colouring book; Tuesday was tips on how to flirt on the subway (pictured above); Wednesday was a guided graffiti tour along the 510 Spadina streetcar route; Thursday was a cryptogram, maze, connect-the-dots game, and riddles; and today's, Friday, was a claim that the whole system is now free.

From the T.O Sun:

For each week day, Posterchild made up flyers for commuters and hung them on hooks on subway cars and the 510 Spadina streetcar.

Each day had a different theme:

Monday was a subway and streetcar colouring book; Tuesday was tips on how to flirt on the subway; Wednesday was a guided graffiti tour along the 510 Spadina streetcar route; Thursday was a cryptogram, maze, connect-the-dots game, and riddles; and Friday's was a claim that the whole system is now free.

A very intense discussion ensues in the Torontoist comments as to what constitutes plagiary, who at The Sun is ultimately responsible, and etc.

Interesting in that what it seems was done in this case (a quick cut & paste) is done on the blogs regularly, including here. Although personally I always try to link to the original source if I intend to crib lines (so readers can see what I took from where).