Media & votes

For all of the ink devoted to Toronto's mayoral candidates, do newspapers still have clout when it comes to influencing voters?

John Downing, a Toronto Sun Day Oner who covered city hall for the Telegram and Sun for five decades, has his say in a new Downing's Views blog posting.

He recalls an era when the election slates of big city dailies were crucial in elections, while today newspaper support is not as important, but still plays a role in an election.   

Downing writes: The bottom line about media slates is that they are important because the media and the politicians think they are important. This becomes obvious to any voter really studying the coverage. And many of them are smart enough to realize that the bias of the newspaper plays a major role in the choice.

An interesting and timely read.