Quote of the week: "We all need to give it a rest."
Ripped from Rob Granatstein's Sunday Sun column about Toronto media's abuse of the use of "exclusive."
The Toronto Sun's editorial page editor no doubt speaks for readers perplexed by the recent abundance of exclusives.
Good on you, Rob. It has been getting a little silly.
> Quote from Granatstein: "The use of the “exclusive” tag is out of control. (...) Of course, we at the Sun are hardly any different. In fact, we’re at least equally as guilty. But we try to set some sort of bar. Sometimes we miss that bar."
ReplyDelete-- Equally as guilty? Miss the bar?
• Did the Toronto Sun ever apologize to (the late) Betty Fox for that SUN EXCLUSIVE front page? Or did Fox have the nerve to die before the apology was sent? Did the Sun ever explain to its readers why that fake SUN EXCLUSIVE was run or where that wrong information came from?
• Did the Toronto Sun ever explain to its readers about where it got that wrong information for its SUN EXCLUSIVE story about Canada's own "weiner-gate" politician?
• What about the two-page exclusive story about Toronto strippers who don't like police background checks? Did the Sun ever explain how few girls that *might* affect?
• Five page coverage on pet licences?! Why? But at least that was exclusive to the Sun.
• Two weeks of raccoon stories? Certainly, the Sun beat the other media on this one.
• The Sun usually has the exclusive on manipulated photos and on using fake, set-up, cheap stock pictures as news photos. Although, the Toronto Star is catching up.
> Quote from Granatstein: "Even the Toronto Star has had a good run with G20 scoops, but last Wednesday’s “Exclusive” about Toronto police swearing off “kettling” after the G20? That’s common sense or assumed, not a front-page screamer."
-- But it *was* an exclusive until other media, including the Sun, picked up the Star story. How can you tell other media swiped the Star story? The Star article contained one factual error which the Sun, and some other media, repeated. Couldn't the Sun be bothered to fact check? Had the Sun cared enough to check, it could've got a real SUN EXCLUSIVE. (Hint: G7, Toronto, Dundas+University Ave.)
Front-page screamer?! Are you kidding? Look at your own paper every single day.
> Quote from Granatstein: "There’s the also-fun zinger now appearing in the Star, “The Star gets action.”
Does that mean they’re staying regular? Getting lucky? Because otherwise it sounds like they’re patting themselves on the back for doing, you know, their job. The tag is a running joke in the media industry these days."
-- Do you not read your own paper? (Eg. front page, two days ago. Self-serving enough for you?)
What about the "TORONTO SUN DELIVERS" zinger? What, is the Sun now delivering pizza?
Let's check the recent scoreboard:
Toronto Star gets action: improvements to provincial healthcare; improvements to daycare regulations; improvements to seniors residences; changes to health protocols at Toronto Sick Kids Hospital; hospital rankings made public; College of Physicians+Surgeons records made public; G20 police identities tracked down; SIU investigations reopened; child obesity review; prison suicide accountability; changes to veterans' pensions and healthcare; changes to provincial consumer laws; review of Ontario's e-Health; and that's just off the top of my head.
Toronto Sun delivers: city may change the way it licenses strippers; city may be forced to trim weeds along a city street; a theatre group loses its annual funding for doing a play about homegrown terrorism and was thus, according to the Sun, "promoting terrorism". The theatre group was also contributing to the country's "massive deficit" because it received -- wait for it -- an average grant of $28,000 per year.
Have I left anything out?
Oh yeah. Since the Sun trashed this theatre group and its average annual funding of $28,000 as being a contributor to Canada's massive debt, when will the Sun do the same and trash Quebecor for taking *millions* of dollars per year in federal funding?
Numbers are here: http://www.pch.gc.ca/eng/1283974447909/1273584006407