The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid
newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
published daily in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by
Postmedia Network
Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is an American-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in En ...
. The newspaper's offices are located at Postmedia Place in
downtown Toronto
Downtown Toronto is the main city centre of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Street to the nor ...
.
The newspaper published its first edition in November 1971, after it had acquired the assets of the defunct '' Toronto Telegram'', and hired portions of its staff. In 1978, Toronto Sun Holdings and Toronto Sun Publishing were consolidated to form Sun Publishing (later renamed
Sun Media Corporation
Sun Media Corporation was the owner of several tabloid and broadsheet newspapers in Canada and the 49% owner of the now defunct Sun News Network. It was a subsidiary of Quebecor Media.
On October 6, 2014, Quebecor Media announced the sale of ...
). Sun Publishing went on to form similar tabloids to the ''Toronto Sun'' in other Canadian cities during the late 1970s and 1980s. The ''Sun'' was acquired by
Postmedia Network
Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is an American-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in En ...
in 2015, as a part of the sale of the ''Sun''s parent company, Sun Media.
History
20th century
In 1971, the Toronto Sun Publishing was created and purchased the syndication operations and newspaper vending boxes from the '' Toronto Telegram'', which ceased operations in the same year. The Toronto Sun also recruited staff from the former ''Telegram'' conservative broadsheet newspaper, and published its first edition on 1 November 1971.
Publisher Doug Creighton was originally going to name the new newspaper the ''Toronto News'' but Andy Donato, who was asked to design the paper's first front page and decided to call the paper the ''Toronto Sun'' instead. Creighton decided it was too late to change it and renamed the paper.
The ''Toronto Sun'' was originally published out of leased space at the Eclipse White Wear Company Building at 322 King Street West. In 1975, the newspaper moved into the Toronto Sun Building at 333 King Street East which was eventually expanded to six storeys to house all of the newspaper's operations. In 2010, the building was sold to property development company First Gulf, and the Sun consolidated its operations onto the second floor. It remained in the building until it relocated offices in 2016.
In 1978, Toronto Sun Holdings and Toronto Sun Publishing were consolidated to form Sun Publishing. The corporation expanded its tabloid footprint, having established its second tabloid, the ''
Edmonton Sun
The ''Edmonton Sun'' is a daily newspaper and news website published in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is owned by Postmedia following its 2015 acquisition of Sun Media from Quebecor.
It began publishing Sunday April 2, 1978 and shares many ch ...
'' through a partnership agreement with Edmonton Sun Publishing in 1978. The ''Albertan'' was acquired in 1980 and made into the company's third tabloid, the ''
Calgary Sun
The ''Calgary Sun'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is currently owned by Postmedia Network. First published in 1980, the tabloid-format daily newspaper replaced the long-running tabloid-size ''The Albertan'' soon ...
'' in 1980.
In 1988, '' The Washington Post'' described the ''Sun'' as an example of
tabloid journalism
Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism, which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as a half broadsheet. The size became associated with sensationalism, an ...
.
21st century
In 2004, the ''Sun'' began its annual George Gross/Toronto Sun Sportsperson of the Year award. By the mid-2000s, the word "The" was dropped from the paper's name and the newspaper adopted its current logo.
The paper acquired a television station from Craig Media in 2005, which was renamed SUN TV. It was later transformed into the
Sun News Network
Sun News Network (commonly shortened to Sun News) was a Canadian English language Category C news channel owned by Québecor Média through a partnership between two of its subsidiaries, TVA Group (which maintained 51% majority ownership of th ...
until its demise in 2015.
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'' was acquired by
Postmedia
Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is an American-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in Engl ...
in 2015, with its purchase of
Sun Media
Sun Media Corporation was the owner of several tabloid and broadsheet newspapers in Canada and the 49% owner of the now defunct Sun News Network. It was a subsidiary of Quebecor Media.
On October 6, 2014, Quebecor Media announced the sale of ...
from
Quebecor
Quebecor Inc. is a Canadian diversified media and telecommunications company serving Quebec based in Montreal. It was spelled Quebecor in both English and French until May 2012, when shareholders voted to add the acute accent, Québecor, in ...
. Following the acquisition the ''Toronto Sun'' staff and operations moved to 365 Bloor Street East, the same building that houses the ''
National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.
'', in March of 2016. However, the two newspapers maintain separate newsrooms.
Circulation
The ''Toronto Sun'' has seen—like most Canadian daily newspapers—a decline in circulation. Its total circulation dropped by percent to 121,304 copies daily from 2009 to 2015.
:::::::::Daily average Figures refer to the total circulation (print and digital combined) which includes paid and unpaid copies.
Notable staff
Editors-in-chief
The ''Toronto Sun'' originally had several editors with various responsibilities, none with the title "editor-in-chief"; however, from 1971 to 1976, Peter Worthington was listed on the newspaper's masthead immediately under the publisher, Doug Creighton.
* Peter Worthington (1976–1982)
* Barbara Amiel (1983–1985)
* John Downing editor (1985–1997), no editor-in-chief until 1995
* Peter O'Sullivan (1995–1999)
* Mike Strobel (1999–2001)
* Mike Therien (2001–2004)
* Jim Jennings (2004–2006)
* Glenn Garnett (2007)
* Lou Clancy (2007–2009)
* James Wallace (2009–2013)
* Wendy Metcalfe (2013–2015)
* Adrienne Batra (2015–present)
Current staff
* Adrienne Batra, editor-in-chief, former comment editor and municipal affairs columnist
* Andy Donato, editorial cartoonist
*
Warren Kinsella
Warren James Kinsella (born August 1960) is a Canadian lawyer, author, musician, political consultant, and Pundit (expert), commentator. Kinsella has written commentary in most of Canada's major newspapers and several magazines, including ''Th ...
, political columnist
* Brian Lilley, provincial, national affairs columnist
* Steve Simmons, sports columnist
Jim Brown
James Nathaniel Brown (February 17, 1936 – May 18, 2023) was an American professional American football, football player, civil rights activist, and actor. He played as a Fullback (gridiron football), fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the ...
Dalton Camp
Dalton Kingsley Camp (September 11, 1920 – March 18, 2002) was a Canadians, Canadian journalist, politician, political strategist and commentator, and supporter of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Although he was never electe ...
, columnist (deceased)
*
Gordon Chong
Gordon Joseph Chong (October 28, 1943 – July 13, 2018) was a Canadian politician and public servant active in Toronto.
He served as a Toronto City Councillor, Toronto city councillor and was vice-chairman of the Toronto Transit Commission in th ...
, columnist (deceased)
*
Sheila Copps
Sheila Maureen Copps (born November 27, 1952) is a former Canadian politician who also served as the sixth deputy prime minister of Canada from November 4, 1993, to April 30, 1996, and June 19, 1996, to June 11, 1997. Her father, Victor Copps, ...
Tarek Fatah
Tarek Fatah ( Punjabi/Urdu: ; Pakistani-Canadian journalist">əteh">̪aɾɪk fətah/ [fəteh20 November 1949 – 24 April 2023) was a Pakistani Canadians">Pakistani-Canadian journalist and author.W. Gifford-Jones, M.D. (pseudonym for Ken Walker), medical columnist
* Edward Greenspan, lawyer, columnist (deceased)
* George Gross, corporate sports editor, columnist (deceased)
* Max Haines, "Crime Flashback" feature (deceased)
*
Paul Hellyer
Paul Theodore Hellyer (August 6, 1923 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian engineer, politician, writer, and commentator. He was the longest serving member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada at the time of his death.
Early life
Hellyer w ...
, columnist and founding investor (deceased)
*
Jim Hunt
James Baxter Hunt Jr. (born May 16, 1937) is an American politician and retired attorney who was the List of governors of North Carolina, 69th and 71st governor of North Carolina (1977–1985, and 1993–2001). He is the longest-serving governo ...
, sports writer (deceased)
* Ajit Jain, columnist
* George Jonas, columnist (deceased)
* Linda Leatherdale, business editor, columnist
*
Ezra Levant
Ezra Isaac Levant (born February 20, 1972) is a Canadian media personality, political activist, writer, broadcaster, and former lawyer. Levant is the founder and former publisher of the conservative magazine, the'' Western Standard''. He is als ...
Lois Maxwell
Lois Ruth Maxwell (née Hooker; February 14, 1927 – September 29, 2007) was a Canadian actress. She was best known for portraying Miss Moneypenny in the first 14 Eon Productions, Eon-produced James Bond in film, ''James Bond'' films (1962–1 ...
Judi McLeod
Judi Ann T. McLeod (born 1944) is a Canadian journalist. Formerly a reporter for a series of newspapers in Ontario, she now operates the conservative website, ''Canada Free Press'' (CFP).
Early life and career
McLeod was born in Prince Edward Isl ...
, education reporter
*
Ben Mulroney
Benedict Martin Paul Mulroney (born March 9, 1976) is a Canadian radio host and former television host. He is the eldest son of Brian Mulroney, the 18th Prime Minister of Canada.
Best known for his 20-year broadcasting career with the Canadian ...
Media in Canada
The media of Canada is highly autonomous, uncensored, diverse, and very regionalized. Canada has a well-developed media sector, but its cultural output—particularly in English films, television shows, and magazines—is often overshadowe ...
*
List of media outlets in Toronto
The media in Toronto encompasses a wide range of television stations, television and radio stations, as well as digital media, digital and print media outlets. These media platforms either service the entire city or are cater to a specific neighbo ...
*
List of newspapers in Canada
This list of newspapers in Canada is a list of newspapers printed and distributed in Canada. Daily newspapers
Local weeklies Alberta
* Bashaw – ''Bashaw Star''
* Bassano – ''Bassano Times''
* Beaumont – ''Beaumont News''
* Beaverlodg ...