Tough jobs, but ...

John, Andy and Dave

A Toronto Sun Day Oners reunion of sorts broke out at a recent Toronto Blues Jays spring training game in Florida.

Former Sun sports writer John Iaboni rubbed shoulders with vacationing Sun cartoonist Andy Donato and Toronto Star photographer David Cooper. They were all on the job when the Toronto Sun was launched on Nov. 1, 1971.

Iaboni writes about the chance reunion at the Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in his Sports Media Canada blog.

Sun & 30s

The Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail know best when it comes to saying farewell to journalists who die.

The Toronto Sun, not so much in recent years. We don't know why. In pre-Quebecor years, there was always space for heart-felt obits and even tribute columns. 

Ken Robertson, a Day Oner and former city editor? 

Not a word.

Most recently, zero words for Robert Reguly.

Life in Sun Media's new word factory isn't what it used to be. 

But there is TSF, for now. 

Speaking of Ken Robertson, his daughter, Lynn, says a Celebration of Life will be held May 7 at Windcharm. E-mail her for more details and directions.

It was written 4

The countdown to the Toronto Sun's 40th anniversary this Nov. 1 continues with more words from Ron Poulton's Life in a Word Factory, published in 1976:

The days and nights at the Sun were long but never dull. Ordinary citizens turned up, carrying cakes, chocolates, cases of wine, paintings, flowers and even potted palms.

Small, round school children, led by large, square teachers, trooped through the city room. 

Bill Hay recalls Day One on the desk at the Sun. Arnold Agnew, editor-in-chief of the Telegram, arrived with a case of champagne. 

"We quaffed it while getting the Day Two paper out. Maybe that's why there was a Day Two paper." 

The survival of the Sun didn't surprise its readers as much as it did most of the professional onlookers. No press analyst has yet been able to devise a complete explanation for that survival, but the answer may lie in the fact that the readers had a sense of wonder while the pros were hardened by the hazards of the news trade.

Bono's 1960s

Mark Bonokoski's Ryerson years are briefly replayed in an online edition of The Eyeopener, the Ryerson student newspaper he contributed to as editor in his youth.

Aleysha Haniff, in a  piece about school spirit, notes how active students were in the 1960s and '70s when it came to freedom of expression.

Aleysha, in a review of Ryerson's  early years, writes: 

"But then came the 1960s, and Ryerson wasn’t immune to the effects of the transformation of the outside world. Mark Bonokoski, a former Eyeopener and Ryersonian editor, graduated from Ryerson’s journalism program in 1972. He helped lead sit-ins at the president’s office and held symposiums on the English department, which he thought was a joke.

“The sit-ins at the president’s office we had maybe 50, 60 students help take it over with us. We negotiated with the president right in his office to get our demands through,” Bonokoski says. “Because it (Ryerson) was so small then, it was a more of a collective rather than just a great big huge stew,” he said.

Even then, school pride came from the fact that graduates in programs such as RTA, fashion and business administration found jobs, Bonokoski says.

TSF notes Bono left Ryerson on fire, was hired by the Windsor Star, joined the Toronto Sun in 1974 and became a columnist in 1977.

Bono made a  difference at Ryerson and has done so dramatically during his three-plus decades in journalism, but this Eyeopener piece got us wondering: When was Toronto's last decent student sit-in?

SONG response

Brad Honywill, president of CEP Local 87M, responds to the Maclean's story:

"The situation in Quebec is quite different than Ontario.

"Both Le Journal de Quebec and Le Journal de Montreal had very rich contracts that were the envy of newspaper workers across North America.

"They had a four-day, 32-hour work week, for example, and were paid overtime for vacation to recognize the extra costs that are incurred in travelling. They even got time off when going through a divorce.

"That put a big target on their backs when the newspaper industry went into decline.

"While unionized workers at Sun Media newspapers in Ontario are well-paid, they aren't out of line with what is paid at other unionized papers in their market.

"Ultimately, we see no sign that Quebecor will take a similar stand in Ontario.

"That being said, we applaud the tenacity and courage of the Journal de Montreal journalists and support staff who put everything they had into defending their contract. 

"We supported them throughout and now have a much closer connection than before the lockout."

Thank you for the update, Brad.

Unions a target?

Wonder how the unions representing Sun Media employees across the chain will react to this story in Maclean's?

www2.macleans.ca/2011/03/04/breaking-ranks/

Memories of Bob

Memories of Bob Reguly, the former award-winning Toronto Star and Toronto Sun investigative reporter who died last week at 80:

From Susan Kane Doyle: "Bob was a very unique character who taught me a lot. Arguing with Bob was an art form, as was just sitting and listening to him. He knew more about reporting and following a lead then anyone I have ever met.

"For many years he was a member of the Outdoor Writers of Canada, he held most positions on the board and was never afraid to call things as he saw them. I will miss his pointed questions, his laugh, and the twinkle when he was pulling your leg."

Ted Gorsline, former Sun freelancer: "Bob Reguly was stand alone at the Toronto Sun. He had no equal."

 

John Downing, Toronto Sun Day Oner and former editor, writes about Reguly in a new Downing's Views blog posting.

Andy Donato, Toronto Sun Day Oner: "Sorry to hear about Bob.  He was a great journalist who had a sad ending. He never should have been treated the way he was."

Memories of Bob can be emailed to TSF.

Attention QMI

The Canadian Press knows how to write a summary of  media awards nominations, as viewed online in a Winnipeg Free Press story.

Take notes, QMI. It isn't rocket science, but it does take a body to write the story with a Sun Media slant.

Not to rub it in, but the story in the Manitoba newspaper is about the 2010 Ontario Newspaper Awards nominees. It lists every individual nominated and all of the newspapers.

If Quebecor was the least bit interested in raising the morale level in its Sun Media chain, self-promotion for newsrooms being recognized for jobs well done would be a good start.

The CP story can be read here.

The OCNA noms

Updated 8/3/11
It is awards season again.

And time for a new assignment for QMI: Write a story about Sun Media nominees in the Ontario Community Newspaper Association's 2010 Better Newspaper Awards.

The awards will be handed out May 13 in Niagara Falls.

Online OCNA stories found to date:

Barry's Bay This Week

Haliburton Echo/Minden Times

Lindsay Post

30 - Bob Reguly

Updated 2/3/11 re John Downing blog
Bob Reguly, whose lengthy award-winning career as an investigative reporter included a  four-year stay at the Toronto Sun, died from heart disease last week at age 80.

During his Toronto Star years, Reguly found Gerda Munsinger, in hiding in 1966 during one of Canada's most sensational government sex scandals.

Veteran journalist and author Richard Gwyn says in a Canadian Press story  Reguly's accomplishments on the Munsinger story have never been equalled.

Reguly moved to the Sun in 1977.

But the Thunder Bay native's stay later at the Toronto Sun was cut short in 1981 by the successful John Munro libel suit over a story he worked on with Don Ramsay.

The CP story reads:

Reguly and Donald Ramsay shared a byline on a Sun article that accused Indian and Northern Development Minister John Munro of benefiting financially from inside knowledge of a major government purchase.

Reguly joined the project late and admitted that he had failed to verify Ramsay's earlier work. He resigned from the Toronto Sun, later accepting a public relations post with Ontario's environment ministry.

Reguly is survived by his wife Ada, daughters Susan and Rebecca, all of Toronto, and son Eric, a Globe and Mail correspondent based in Rome.

A Globe and Mail obit today says Bob's funeral and celebration of his life will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday (March 6)  at the Pine Hills Cemetery, 625 Birchmount Rd.

The Star's story is here.

Memories of Bob can be emailed to TSF.