Thursday 9 August 2007

Sun always puff?

The name Ted Gorsline rings a bell, but we can't quite pin it down following a Google search. But he says this in an e-mail to TSF:

Dear Editor,

I find this nostalgic 'what could have been' website a bit wearing. The
only reason anyone was ever hired by the Sun was to fill the space between the ads. There were some good people there, especially the lovely girls like Diane Koslowski and Diane Christianson in the ad department, but the only two real journalists who ever set foot in the place were Christie Blatchford and Bob Reguly. Otherwise the Sun was and remains a wasteland of puff journalism.

I see now it offers "full columns" and "full points of view." why not try
half columns and half points of view to save space.

The more newspapers in Toronto the merrier, but the Sun never really had any news in it except recycled Star and Globe stories, so what's the loss if it becomes a throwaway?

Ted Gorsline

Thank you for your e-mail Ted, but . . .

It sounds like Ted worked for the Toronto Sun, but he obviously didn't work for the same Toronto Sun where the celebrated Ted Reeve, Bob MacDonald, Jerry Gladman, Gary Dunford, Paul Rimstead, Scott Morrison, Trent Frayne, Max Haines, Andy Donato, Peter Worthington, John Downing, Lorrie Goldstein, Mike Filey, Mark Bonokoski, Mike Strobel, Bruce Kirkland, Jim Slotek, Liz Braun, Michele Mandel, Joe Warmington et al worked over the years.

He didn't work for the same pre-Quebecor Sun that collected National Newspaper Awards year after year - and you don't win NNAs with recycled Star and Globe copy. Plus numerous police, fire and ambulance awards won by police desk staffers.

And his description sure doesn't fit the paper that once had the most solid gathering of award-winning photographers Toronto media has ever enjoyed, including Hugh Wesley, Stan Behal, Veronica Henri, Mike Peake, Norm Betts, Bill Sandford, Fred Thornhill et al.

It was a competitive, major daily newspaper and recognized as one of Canada's Top 100 favourite workplaces.

The Sun doesn't shine like it did when Christie and all of the people mentioned, plus hundreds more throughout the bustling 333 King Street East, called it home.

But when it did shine, from 1971 through 1992, it was the toast of the town with readers who couldn't get enough of their Little Paper That Grew.

It definitely wasn't a "wasteland of puff journalism" in the pre-Quebecor years. Maybe more puff now, but not then.

1 comment:

  1. Ted was the outdoor writer at the Sun for some time if I recall.
    Tall, dark haired with a squared, dimpled chin he looked the part too.

    However in my 23 some years there I don't recall him covering news or working GA.

    But then, according to him, I was not a "journalist" so what do I know?

    -Ian Harvey

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