by Judi McLeod
February 16, 2004
Earth to antonia;
Hullo!!!
You were only joking when you wrote about your worries that the Toronto Star would begin leaning to the right without Publisher John Honderich at the helm. Right, I mean correct?
‰We in the newsroom worry that, when John officially steps down May 5, we will lean to the right. That would be a big mistake, not just politically but also from a marketing perspective. Why jump into an already overcrowded field while ignoring your readers interests?
While it may be easy to understand your palpable heartbreak that Honderich is riding off into the sunset while he was always there, ready to indulge reporters in dancing the night away at a rock concert or office party, the CN Tower will topple before the Toronto Star will ever lean to the right.
antonia, as publisher of the only known right of centre publication I know about, could you please rush me your list with members from the already overcrowded field? Sometimes, it gets a tad lonely out here.
as for John Honderich, the wearer of the signature bowtie going down fighting the dark forces of ultra-conservatism in his corner office, we didnt know there were any ultra conservative forces at Star headquarters. They were all drummed out as racists, along with members of our local police force and the Toronto Blue Jays.
according to your publisher, upon admitting to his imminent departure‰ For some time, there has been a corporate desire for change.
according to antonia, Were No. 1, as John said last week, in `arguably the most competitive newspaper market on the continent. Our ad revenues are up. Were making money. We won the newspaper war. In fact, were the most successful paper in Canada. Sounds corporate to some of us.
antonia sees the publication that pays her freight as a Paper for the People since we first hit Torontos streets in 1892.
What she doesnt write about is that the Star has somehow morphed from the Paper for the People into the Paper of Victims since the long ago 1800s.
In her version, the Star went out on a limb in standing up against those damned Yankees.
When every other daily in town backed U.S. President George W. Bushs attack on Iraq, she says, the Star stood alone--with the majority of Canadians who also thought the invasion wrong.
a majority of Canadians thought the invasion wrong? Guess antonia is a student of the Carolyn Parrish School of Fame.
Besides, antonia should know that youre never standing alone when you have a majority of the Canadian population standing right there with you.
all things must come to an end, and in the case of John Honderich, he was 10 years in the publishers office and another 28 years on staff.
Mr. Bowties will be moving on to greener pastures, with rumours hell be running under the Liberal banner for federal public office.
In other words, hes headed where all the big stars hang out.
as a newspaper publisher, John Honderich could never prove that the Toronto police, the Blue Jays and the rest of us were all racists.
There are some incorrectly branded as racists who know that racism does exist. But they know, too its never so convenient as finding it rearing its ugly head in an entire police force, or in a hometown baseball team. and as long as so much time is spent wrongly accusing the innocent of racism, the real racists are out there getting away with it.
Perhaps as a Liberal MP, John Honderich can root out real racism and put an end to it. If successful, hes sure to get a citation from Governor General adrienne Clarkson.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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