A Tale of Two Papers

I subscribe to the Globe and Mail and for some unknown reason the Toronto Star has mysteriously been showing up for the past week.

As an experiment, I compared the papers today.

G&M front page:

Leaders' tone gets ugly fast
Harper lobs 'national joke' insult at PM;
Martin targets Tories' 'hidden agenda'
An election possible? Yes this is news. IMO both the headlines and the accompanying article were pretty balanced. Both leaders were portrayed as politicians (the scheming, muckraking sort that we know and detest so well)

Martin set to play unity card

Catholics fight for heart of Africa
(picture of PJP's tomb)
Upheaval in the Catholic church - Catholicism being the worlds largest religon, I deem this newsworthy too

Hollinger evicting Black from tony Toronto office
Like I care. This is Schadenfreude pure and simple. Pandering to the petty business reader. Ack.

White supremacist Droege shot to death in Toronto
One less bigot, good; but is this news? I don't think so. But it's on the front of the Star as well, guess I'm in the minority.

Star Front Page

Very prominent pic of pregnant Britn.ey Spe.ars
Caption: Junk food yummy for mummy-to-be Brit.ney,
but pop princess needs to rein in the fries
Not only is this not news but the paper offers a judgement too! The accompanying article on pg. 3 is a full page disparaging the couple's habits. Ack this is tabloid crap.


Kyoto plan will survive election
Conservatives say they'll stand by greenhouse goals
Whaa! Has the Star started supporting the Tories when I wasn't looking? In comparison the G&M's article (on pg. 6) is "Opposition tears into Liberal's Kyoto plan - Anti-global warming program could die with June election, Industry Minister says" I don't get it the Star used to be such a Liberal rag. The article glosses over things - if the "Toriess win a spring election, his party is commited to keeping the plan [Kyoto] though perhaps with a different timeline." As reported in the G&M this 'new timeline' would "push back the date for Canadian compliance with the internatioal agreement by a further three to eight years." Unreal the difference between the papers.

'The dark side consumed him'
Notorious white supremacist killed
Shot dead at his Scarborough home
Gotta love that headline - soo much trasier than the G&M. And the article is trashy too; In the second paragraph the report cites "sources" who "said he drifted heavily inot drug and cigarette smuggling over the past decade, although he was sitll considered a force in racist white politics." Yep, that's the Star - get in the trash right up front and continue tossing it for as long as you can.

Deal suspends teacher job action
Finally, a reason to read this rag. But I don't have kids, am not a teacher and hence could care less. I guess it's not a reason.

Women conspicuously absent from scandal
'We do politics differently,' MP says
More women, less corruption: Study
Egad, yet another specious study presented by our city's most prominent rag. Argh, I don't even know where to start with this inane, misleading blather.


This is why I read the Globe.