Toronto Star - WikiHQ

The Toronto Star is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Torstar Corporation, previously a publicly traded company from 1958 until it was acquired by private investment firm NordStar Capital LP in 2020. The newspaper is operated by Daily News Brands, a Torstar division.

Established in 1892 as the Evening Star, the newspaper was renamed the Toronto Daily Star in 1900 under Joseph E. Atkinson. Atkinson significantly influenced the paper's editorial stance, with the publication reflecting his social liberal principles even after his death in 1948. His son-in-law, Harry C. Hindmarsh, continued these principles as the paper's longtime managing editor while also increasing circulation through sensational stories, bold headlines and dramatic photographs.

Renamed the Toronto Star in 1971, the newspaper introduced a Sunday edition in 1977. Its editorial alignment is centrist to centre-left moderately nationalist, and generally supportive of the Liberal Party.

Two paper-owned high-rise headquarters buildings were prominent on the City of Toronto's downtown skyline when they were constructed. These were the 1929 Old Toronto Star Building and its successor, the 1971 Toronto Star Building. The Star sold its headquarters in 2000 and relocated from its building in 2022, now leasing space at The Well on Spadina Avenue.

History

The Star was created in 1892 by striking Toronto News printers and writers, led by future mayor of Toronto and social reformer Horatio Clarence Hocken, who became the newspaper's founder, along with another future mayor, Jimmy Simpson.

The Star was first printed on Toronto World presses, and at its formation, The World owned a 51 percent interest in it as a silent partner. That arrangement only lasted for two months, during which time it was rumoured that William Findlay "Billy" Maclean, The Worlds proprietor, was considering selling the Star to the Riordon family. After an extensive fundraising campaign among the Star staff, Maclean agreed to sell his interest to Hocken.

The paper did poorly in its first few years. Hocken sold out within the year, and several owners followed in succession until railway entrepreneur William Mackenzie bought it in 1896. Its new editors, Edmund E. Sheppard and Frederic Thomas Nicholls, moved the entire Star operation into the same building used by the magazine Saturday Night.

Under Atkinson

thumb|[[Joseph E. Atkinson, . The Star became Toronto's largest newspaper under his leadership.]]

Joseph E. "Holy Joe" Atkinson, backed by funds raised by supporters of Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, bought the paper on December 13, 1899. The supporters included Senator George Cox, William Mulock, Peter Charles Larkin and Timothy Eaton. Atkinson became the controlling shareholder of the Star. The Star was frequently criticized for practising the yellow journalism of its era. For decades, the paper included heavy doses of crime and sensationalism, along with advocating social change.

Atkinson was the Stars editor from 1899 until his death in 1948. saw it become one of the first North American papers to be banned in Germany. Atkinson had a social conscience. He championed many causes that would come to be associated with the modern welfare state: old age pensions, unemployment insurance, and health care. The Government of Canada Digital Collections website describes Atkinson as:

<blockquote>a "radical" in the best sense of that term.... The Star was unique among North American newspapers in its consistent, ongoing advocacy of the interests of ordinary people. The friendship of Atkinson, the publisher, with Mackenzie King, the prime minister, was a major influence on the development of Canadian social policy.</blockquote>

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. In 1949, the province of Ontario passed the Charitable Gifts Act, barring charitable organizations from owning large parts of profit-making businesses, that effectively required the Star to be sold.

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. The five trustees of the charitable organization circumvented the Act by buying the paper themselves and swearing before the Supreme Court of Ontario to continue what became known as the "Atkinson Principles":

thumb|Front page of the Star in 1922, covering [[Frederick Banting's accomplishments with insulin]]

A strong, united and independent Canada
Social justice
Individual and civil liberties
Community and civic engagement
The rights of working people
The necessary role of government

Other early media ventures

Under Atkinson, the Star launched several other media initiatives, including a weekend supplemental magazine, the Star Weekly, from 1910 to 1973. From 1922 to 1933, the Star was also a radio broadcaster on its station CFCA, broadcasting on a wavelength of 400 metres (749.48 kHz); its coverage was complementary to the paper's reporting. The station was closed following the establishment of the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC) and the introduction of a government policy that, in essence, restricted private stations to an effective radiated power of 100 watts. Its first morning edition was published in 1981. In September 2002, the logo was changed, and "The" was dropped from the masthead. During the 2003 Northeast blackout, the Star printed the paper at a press in Welland, 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 the Toronto Star had no third-party advertising aside from upcoming lottery jackpot estimates from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG).

On May 28, 2007, the Star 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. However, on January 1, 2009, the Star reverted to its previous format. Star P.M., a free newspaper in PDF 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 to Transcontinental Printing, leading to the layoff of all 285 staff at the plant, as Transcontinental had its own existing facility, also in Vaughan. The newspaper said the closure was effected so it could better focus on its digital outlets.

In February 2018, the Toronto Star suspended its internship program indefinitely to cut its costs. 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. In 2020, the internship program returned.

In April 2018, the Toronto Star expanded its local coverage of Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Halifax with rebranded daily newspapers, previously known as Metro, as StarMetro, which was a joint venture between Torstar (90%) and Swedish media company Metro International (10%). In October 2018, the Toronto Star acquired iPolitics, a political news outlet. It ceased to own the property in 2022.

On December 20, 2019, all StarMetro editions ceased publication.

Nordstar: 2020–present

With the newspaper facing tough economic pressures Torstar's board of directors voted to sell the company to the investment firm NordStar Capital. Their decision was announced on May 26, 2020, with the sale also turning Torstar into a privately held company. The deal was expected to be approved by Torstar's shareholders and to close by the end of 2020. Canadian Modern Media Holdings made an offer of $58million on July 9, 2020; NordStar subsequently increased its offer to $60million, effectively ending the bidding war. The majority of shareholders voted in favour of the deal. The takeover was approved by an Ontario judge on July 27, 2020. An appeal of the judgement by another prospective purchaser failed on July 31 when Ontario Superior Court Justice Michael Penny dismissed the motion.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, with its work from home orders and new communications technologies, the lack of the need for large office spaces meant the newspaper could downsize its operations. In November 2022, the newspaper moved its headquarters from 1 Yonge Street to a new location at the Well on Spadina Avenue at Front Street.

Content

Editorial position

Like its competitor The Globe and Mail, the Star covers "a spectrum of opinion that is best described as urban and Central Canadian" in character. The Star is generally centrist and centre-left, and is more socially liberal than The Globe and Mail. The paper has aligned itself over the years with the progressive "Atkinson principles" named for publisher Joseph E. Atkinson, who was editor and publisher of the paper for 50 years. These principles included social justice and social welfare provision, as well as individual rights and civil liberties. The paper has been traditionally supportive of official bilingualism and maintaining Canadian unity in opposition to Quebec separatism. Conversely, Canadian sociologist Elke Winter wrote in 2011 that the Toronto Star was less "Toronto-centric" than its rival, The Globe and Mail, writing that the Star "consciously reports for and from Canada's most multicultural city" and catered to a diverse readership. In the upheaval that followed, editorial spending increased and there was much turnover of editors and publishers.

Election endorsements

In the 50 years to 1972, the Star endorsed the Liberal Party in each federal general election. In the fifteen federal elections between 1968 and 2019, the Star has endorsed the Liberal Party eleven times, the New Democratic Party twice, and the Progressive Conservative Party twice. For the 2015 election, the Star endorsed the Liberal Party under Justin Trudeau, and did so again in 2019 and 2021. The Star endorsed the Liberals under Mark Carney for the 2025 federal election.

In Toronto's non-partisan mayoral elections, the Star endorsed George Smitherman in 2010 and John Tory in 2014, 2018, and 2022. The Star endorsed Ana Bailão in the 2023 Toronto mayoral by-election.

Features

The Star 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.

The Star 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, individual neighbourhoods, style, business and travel.

Products

Website

The Star launched its website in 1996. In October 2012, the Star announced its intention to implement a paywall on its website, thestar.com, 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. The Star removed its paywall on April 1, 2015, and revived it in 2018.

Mobile app

On September 15, 2015, the Toronto Star released the Star Touch tablet app, which was a free interactive news app with interactive advertisements. At launch, it was only available for the iPad, which uses iOS. Based on a similar app for Montreal-based released in 2013, Star Touch is the first such app for any English-language news organization. In slightly over 50 days after launch, the app had reached the 100,000-download milestone. The Android version was launched on December 1, 2015.

The Star's current iOS app is rated 12+ by Apple's App Store guidelines and the Android version is rated Mature 17+ by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).

Circulation

thumb|A Canada Post mailbox next to an empty Toronto Star vending box

The Toronto Star has seen, like most Canadian daily newspapers, a decline in circulation. Its total circulation dropped by percent to 318,763 copies daily from 2009 to 2015.