Saturday 30 April 2011

Shower time

Never thought we'd have a strong urge to take a shower after reading the Toronto Sun, but today's the day.

Shameful use of the printed word two days before an election.

11 comments:

  1. You're surprised?

    15 years ago Jack may or may not have gotten a tug. But probably not. And we can't tell you who told us this. Also, there were no charges. Jack is guilty of, at most, having poor judgement in where to get a massage.

    Way to be journalists, Sun.

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  2. And of course identical cookie-cutter fronts across the chain. Yuck!

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  3. What's so "shameful" about it?
    Jack's caught naked in a known bawdy house in an area of the city full of known bawdy houses.
    He isn't charged because they don't actually catch him in the act.
    On the balance of probabilities "not" doesn't win.
    And he says he's there for a legit massage?
    That's shameful.
    The only question is why wasn't this reported before?
    Substitute "Stephen Harper" for "Jack Layton" and EVERYONE is falling all over themselves.

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  4. Left B4 ScumTV debut.30 April 2011 at 19:17

    The reason this wasn't reported before is because the Sun is using it for maximum effect to fulfill their Conservative agenda. It may actually surprise you John, but people actually do visit massage parlors for massages without "happy endings."

    I would say SunMedia's long history of being a shameful news gathering organization eclipses anything that Jack Layton did or didn't do in a massage room 16 years ago. I would trust his explanation of events over those of a Sun reporter or any police officer for that matter.

    Keep it classy John Friesen. Perhaps you guys should stick to what you know best....... T&A or stories about puppies.

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  5. The WANKERS at head office made the story a "must run" in all Sun Media newspapers. Papers with very little news hole were forced to substitute legitimate news for that crap.

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  6. Couldn't possibly outclass that comment from some guy who hides behind "Left B4 ScumTV debut."
    Don't be silly, LB4STVD (if that is your real name). No one visits a massage parlour called Velvet Touch for a legit massage. And Jack's explanation is that the Sun story got all the facts correct. At least read the beyond the headline before letting your anti-Sun bias shine through.

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  7. No media outlet can afford to ignore a story like that. While the timing is highly suspicious following the news of Layton's big gains in the polls and the possibility he would form the opposition, it IS a news story ... and it wasn't just the Sun that ran big with it. And the story is true by Layton's own admission, so there's no real "spin" anywhere.

    While the whole episode stinks of dirty politics, let's not get on our high horses over the Sun following a legitimate lead.

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  8. Apparently someone offered the story to the Post before the '08 election, but they were classy/smart enough not to take it.

    This doesn't look bad on Layton, it looks bad on the Sun.

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  9. Someone offered this story to the Post minus the supporting documentation.
    Big difference. The lead was legit.
    The complaining is just sour grapes masquerading as a holier-than-thou attitude.

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  10. How much taller the Sun chain would have appeared today with a Tory majority had it not chosen to get involved in gutter politics.

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  11. Gotta respond, TSF. It was a tab story. TSF knows as much as anyone and more than most that a tab can't ignore a tab story. No argument it was dirty politics, but the reality is the news business is just that — a business — and politics is dirty now. To pass the story up to let other media outlets have it would have been bad business, not to mention bad journalism. Layton needed to be asked about this once it came to light and he needed his side to be told. All that was done and done properly.

    Many people asked, What if it was Harper? Wouldn't everybody jump on it with glee? What if it WAS Harper, and we DID ignore the story, citing "ethics?" What would people think of the Sun then?
    A story is a story is a story.

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