 | |
 Front page of the January 23, 2013, edition of theToronto Star | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. (subsidiary ofTorstar) |
| Publisher | Jordan Bitove |
| Editor | Nicole MacIntyre |
| Founded | 1892; 133 years ago (1892) (asEvening Star) |
| Political alignment | Social liberalism[1][2][3][4] |
| Headquarters | 8Spadina Avenue Toronto, Ontario M5V 0S8 |
| Circulation | 193,050 weekdays 290,153 Saturdays 185,159 Sundays in 2018[5] |
| ISSN | 0319-0781 |
| OCLC number | 137342540 |
| Website | www |
| Part ofa series on the |
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TheToronto Star is a Canadian English-languagebroadsheetdaily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary ofTorstar Corporation and part of Torstar'sDaily News Brands division.[6]
The newspaper was established in 1892 as theEvening Star and was later renamed theToronto Daily Star in 1900, underJoseph E. Atkinson. Atkinson was a major influence in shaping the editorial stance of the paper, with the paper reflecting his principles until his death in 1948.[7] His son-in-law,Harry C. Hindmarsh, shared those principles as the paper's longtime managing editor while also helping to build circulation with sensational stories, bold headlines and dramatic photos.[8] The paper was renamed theToronto Star in 1971 and introduced a Sunday edition in 1977.[9]
TheStar was created in 1892[10] by strikingToronto News printers and writers, led by futuremayor of Toronto and social reformerHoratio Clarence Hocken, who became the newspaper's founder,[11] along with another future mayor,Jimmy Simpson.
TheStar was first printed onToronto World presses, and at its formation,The World owned a 51 percent interest in it[12] as asilent partner.[13] That arrangement only lasted for two months, during which time it was rumoured thatWilliam Findlay "Billy" Maclean,The World's proprietor, was considering selling theStar to the Riordon family.[a] After an extensive fundraising campaign among theStar staff, Maclean agreed to sell his interest to Hocken.[13][15]
The paper did poorly in its first few years. Hocken sold out within the year, and several owners followed in succession until railway entrepreneurWilliam Mackenzie bought it in 1896.[16] Its new editors,Edmund E. Sheppard andFrederic Thomas Nicholls, moved the entireStar operation into the same building used by the magazineSaturday Night.[17]
Joseph E. "Holy Joe" Atkinson, backed by funds raised by supporters of Prime MinisterWilfrid Laurier, bought the paper on December 13, 1899.[17] The supporters includedSenator George Cox,William Mulock,Peter Charles Larkin andTimothy Eaton.[18] Atkinson became the controllingshareholder of theStar.[19] TheStar was frequently criticized for practising theyellow journalism of its era. For decades, the paper included heavy doses of crime andsensationalism, along with advocating social change.
Atkinson was theStar's editor from 1899 until his death in 1948.[20] The newspaper's early opposition and criticism of theNazi regime[21] saw it become one of the first North American papers to bebanned in Germany.[22] Atkinson had a social conscience. He championed many causes that would come to be associated with the modernwelfare state:old age pensions,unemployment insurance, andhealth care. TheGovernment of Canada Digital Collections website describes Atkinson as:
a "radical" in the best sense of that term.... TheStar was unique among North American newspapers in its consistent, ongoing advocacy of the interests of ordinary people. The friendship of Atkinson, the publisher, withMackenzie King, theprime minister, was a major influence on the development of Canadian social policy.[23]
Shortly before his death in 1948, Joseph E. Atkinson transferred ownership of the paper to a charitable organization given the mandate of continuing the paper's liberal tradition.[24] In 1949, the Province of Ontario passed theCharitable Gifts Act,[b] barring charitable organizations from owning large parts of profit-making businesses,[25] that effectively required theStar to be sold.[c]
Atkinson's will had directed that profits from the paper's operations were "for the promotion and maintenance of social, scientific and economic reforms which are charitable in nature, for the benefit of the people of the province of Ontario" and it stipulated that the paper could be sold only to people who shared his social views.[27] The five trustees of the charitable organization circumvented the Act by buying the paper themselves and swearing before theSupreme Court of Ontario to continue what became known as the "Atkinson Principles":[28]
These principles continue to affect theStar's editorial stances. In February 2006,Star media columnistAntonia Zerbisias wrote on her blog:
Besides, we are theStar which means we all have the Atkinson Principles—and its multi-culti values—tattooed on our butts. Fine with me. At least we are upfront about our values, and they almost always work in favour of building a better Canada.[29]
Under Atkinson, theStar launched several other media initiatives, including a weekend supplemental magazine, theStar Weekly, from 1910 to 1973. From 1922 to 1933, theStar was also a radio broadcaster on its stationCFCA, broadcasting on awavelength of 400metres (749.48 kHz); its coverage was complementary to the paper's reporting.[30] The station was closed following the establishment of theCanadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC) and the introduction of a government policy that, in essence, restricted private stations to aneffective radiated power of 100watts.[30] TheStar would continue to supply sponsored content to the CRBC's CRCT station—which later became CBC stationCBL—an arrangement that lasted until 1946.[30]
In 1971, the newspaper was renamedThe Toronto Star and moved to a modern International-style office tower atOne Yonge Street byQueens Quay. The originalStar building at 80 King Street West was demolished to make room forFirst Canadian Place.
TheStar expanded during the 1970s with the introduction of a Sunday edition in 1973 and a morning edition in 1981.[7]
In 1992, its printing plant was moved to the Toronto Star Press Centre at theHighway 407 &400 interchange inVaughan.[31] In September 2002, the logo was changed, and "The" was dropped from the masthead. During the2003 Northeast blackout, theStar printed the paper at a press inWelland, Ontario. The newspaper's former printing plant was housed at One Yonge Street until the Toronto Star Press Centre opened.
Until the mid-2000s, the front page of theToronto Star had no third-party advertising aside from upcoming lottery jackpot estimates from theOntario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG).
On May 28, 2007, theStar unveiled a redesigned paper that featured larger type, narrower pages, fewer and shorter articles, renamed sections, a more prominent focus on local news, and less focus on international news, columnists, and opinion pieces.[32] However, on January 1, 2009, theStar reverted to its previous format.Star P.M., a free newspaper inPDF format that could be downloaded from the newspaper's website each weekday afternoon, was discontinued in October 2007, thirteen months after its launch.
On January 15, 2016, Torstar confirmed the closure of its Vaughan printing presses and indicated that it would outsource printing toTranscontinental Printing, leading to the layoff of all 285 staff at the plant, as Transcontinental had its own existing facility, also in Vaughan.[33] The newspaper said the closure was effected so it could better focus on its digital outlets.[34]
In February 2018, theToronto Star suspended its internship program indefinitely to cut its costs.[35] Long a source of Canada's next generation of journalists, the paid positions were seen by journalists and program alumni as a vital part of the national industry, and their suspension, a sign of its continuing decline.[36] In 2020, the internship program returned.[37]
In April 2018, theToronto Star expanded its local coverage of Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Halifax with rebranded daily newspapers, previously known asMetro, asStarMetro, which was a joint venture between Torstar (90%) and Swedish media companyMetro International (10%).[38][39][40] In October 2018, theToronto Star acquirediPolitics, a political news outlet. It ceased to own the property in 2022.[41][42]
On December 20, 2019, allStarMetro editions ceased publication amid the popularity and resultant growth of news apps on mobile devices.[43][44]
The newspaper was acquired by NordStar Capital on May 26, 2020, after the board ofTorstar voted to sell the company to the investment firm forCA$52 million—making Torstar aprivately held company.[45] The deal was expected to be approved by Torstar'sshareholders and to close by the end of 2020.[46] Canadian Modern Media Holdings made an offer of $58 million on July 9, 2020;[47] NordStar subsequently increased its offer to $60 million, effectively ending the bidding war.[47] A vast majority of shareholders subsequently voted in favour of the deal.[48] The takeover was approved by an Ontario judge on July 27, 2020.[49] An appeal of the judgement by another prospective purchaser failed on July 31 when Ontario Superior Court Justice Michael Penny dismissed the motion.[50] The deal was expected to close during the following week.[51][52]
In November 2022, the newspaper moved its headquarters from theToronto Star Building located on Yonge Street to a new location onSpadina Avenue at Front Street.[53][54][55][56]
Like its competitorThe Globe and Mail, theStar covers "a spectrum of opinion that is best described as urban andCentral Canadian" in character. TheStar is generally centrist andcentre-left, and is moresocially liberal thanThe Globe and Mail.[57] The paper has aligned itself over the years with the progressive "Atkinson principles" named for publisherJoseph E. Atkinson,[58] who was editor and publisher of the paper for 50 years.[59] These principles includedsocial justice andsocial welfare provision, as well asindividual rights andcivil liberties.[59] In 1984, scholar Wilfred H. Kesterton described theStar as "perpetually indignant" because of its social consciousness.[57] When Atkinson's son Joseph Story Atkinson became president of theStar in 1957, he said, "From its inception in 1892, theStar has been a champion of social and economic reform, a defender of minority rights, a foe of discrimination, a friend of organized labour and a staunch advocate of Canadian nationhood."[59]
Another of the "Atkinson principles" has been a "strong, united and independent Canada"; in a 1927 editorial, the paper wrote, "We believe in the British connection as much as anybody does but on a self-respecting basis of equality, of citizenship, and not on the old basis of one country belonging to the other."[59] The paper was historically wary of American influence,[59] and during the debates over theNorth American Free Trade Agreement, the paper was frequently critical offree trade and expressed concerns about Canadian sovereignty.[60] The paper has been traditionally supportive ofofficial bilingualism and maintaining Canadian unity in opposition toQuebec separatism.[59]
In the 1980s,Michael Farber wrote in theMontreal Gazette that theStar's coverage was Toronto-centric to the point that any story was said to carry an explanation as to "What it means toMetro."[61] Conversely, Canadian sociologist Elke Winter wrote in 2011 that theToronto Star was less "Toronto-centric" than its rival,The Globe and Mail, writing that theStar "consciously reports for and from Canada's most multicultural city" and catered to a diverse readership.[57]
The advent of theNational Post in 1998 shook up the Toronto newspaper market.[62] In the upheaval that followed, editorial spending increased and there was much turnover of editors and publishers.[63]
In the 50 years to 1972, theStar endorsed theLiberal Party in eachfederal general election.[64] In the fifteen federal elections between 1968 and 2019, theStar has endorsed the Liberal Party eleven times, theNew Democratic Party twice, and theProgressive Conservative Party twice.[58]
Elections in which theStar did not endorse the Liberals took place in1972 and1974 (when it endorsed the Progressive Conservatives), and1979 and2011 (when it endorsed the NDP).[64][58] In the 2011 election, theStarendorsed the NDP underJack Layton,[1] but to avoidvote splitting that could inadvertently help the Conservatives underStephen Harper, which it saw as the worst outcome for the country, the paper also recommended Canadiansvote strategically by voting for "the progressive candidate best placed to win" in certain ridings.[65] For the2015 election, theStar endorsed the Liberal Party underJustin Trudeau,[66] and did so again in the2019 federal election.[67]
In Toronto'snon-partisan mayoral elections, theStar endorsedGeorge Smitherman in2010[68] andJohn Tory in 2014[69] and 2018.[70]
TheStar is one of the few Canadian newspapers that employs a "public editor" (ombudsman) and was the first to do so. Its newsroom policy and journalistic standards guide is also published online.[71]
TheStar states that it favours an inclusive, "big tent" approach, not wishing to attract one group of readers at the expense of others. It publishes regular features on real estate (including condominiums), individual neighbourhoods (and street name etymologies), shopping, cooking, dining, alcoholic beverages (right down to having an exclusive on the anti-competitive practices ofthe Beer Store that led to major reforms on thesale of alcohol in Ontario grocery stores in 2015 by PremierKathleen Wynne andEd Clark), automobiles (as Wheels), and travel destinations.
TheStar launched its website in 1996.[7] In October 2012, theStar announced its intention to implement apaywall on its website, thestar.com,[72] effective August 13, 2013. Readers with daily home delivery had free access to all digital content. Those without a digital subscription could access 10 articles a month.[73][74] TheStar removed its paywall on April 1, 2015,[75] and revived it in 2018.[76]
On September 15, 2015, theToronto Star released the Star Touch tablet app, which was a free interactive news app with interactive advertisements. It was discontinued in 2017. At launch, it was only available for theiPad, which usesiOS. Based on a similar app for Montreal-basedLa Presse released in 2013, Star Touch is the first such app for any English-language news organization, quality-wise.[77] In slightly over 50 days since launch, the app had reached the 100,000-download milestone.[78] TheAndroid version was launched on December 1, 2015.[79] The iOS version is rated 12+ byApple's App Store guidelines[80] and the Android version is rated Mature 17+ by theEntertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).[81]
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TheToronto Star has seen, like mostCanadian daily newspapers, a decline incirculation. Its total circulation dropped by 22 percent to 318,763 copies daily from 2009 to 2015.[82]
TheToronto Star has been located at several addresses since 1892.[9]
he Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Divisional Court) has dismissed a motion for a stay of the final order
Several other companies have already moved into the Well, including the Star, which recently moved from its long-time office at 1 Yonge St.
;Sullivan, Jack (December 8, 1953)."Sportsmen Honour W. A. (Billy) Hewitt at Dinner Tonight".The Kingston Whig-Standard. Kingston, Ontario.The Canadian Press. p. 11.
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