Toronto Sun - History

History

The Sun was first published on November 1, 1971, the Monday after the demise of the Toronto Telegram, a conservative broadsheet. As there was no publishing gap between the two papers and many writers and employees moved to the new paper, it is today generally considered as a direct continuation of the Telegram, and the Sun is the holder of the Telegram archives.

The Toronto Sun is modeled on British tabloid journalism, even borrowing the name of The Sun newspaper published in London, and some of the features, including the typically bikini-clad Sunshine Girl, who was initially on the same page as the British paper - page 2 or 3. Unlike its British counterpart, the Toronto Sun has never had a "topless" Sunshine Girl; in the 1990s the Sunshine Girl feature was permanently relocated to the Sports section. News stories in the tabloid style tend to be much shorter than those in other newspapers, and the language Sun journalists use tends to be simpler and more conversational than language used in other newspapers.

As of the end of 2007, the Sun had a Monday through Saturday circulation of approximately 180,000 papers and Sunday circulation of 310,000.

The Sun is owned by Sun Media, a subsidiary of Quebecor. Torstar, the parent company of the Toronto Star, once attempted to purchase the Sun. The paper, which boasts the slogan "Toronto's Other Voice" (also once called "The Little Paper that Grew") acquired a television station from Craig Media in 2005, now known as SUN TV. By the mid-2000s (decade), the word "The" was dropped from the paper's name and the newspaper adopted its current logo.

The Toronto Sun's first editor was Peter Worthington who remains a columnist for the paper. He was succeeded by Barbara Amiel who, in turn, was succeeded by John Downing, Lorrie Goldstein, Linda Williamson and Rob Granatstein. The editor-in-chief job is James Wallace. The publisher is Mike Power.