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| Peter Worthington at the Toronto Sun, March of 1978 |
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/05/17/peter_worthington_and_the_politics_of_horizontalism.html
A few years ago I worked at a company where Mr. Worthington was a client. The couple of times I dealt directly with him I was analyzing my own reactions based on the fact I was well aware of who he was and, as Salutin talks about in his interesting column, Worthington's defined, or not so much depending on the issue at hand, politics.
Needless to say, politics were not the order of the day in my own interactions with the famous Sun man standing before me, but what surprised me most, as part of my internalizing mentioned earlier, was that Peter Worthington, besides being impeccably dressed, was a real gentleman type; one pleasant fellow who's demenour hardly represented the (often dim) right wing "kind".
Besides, the man, of the old school variety, did his job: He dug for the news and didn't care on which side of the fence he and his 'subject' were standing.
He was one of those rare guys who could earn your respect even if his opinions clashed with your own -- almost everything, in my case, especially on the "CBC" issue. Worthington's regular column at the amateurish and childish Toronto Sun was one of the few that I read on a regular basis there.
So... I guess the question is: What does the Sun have going for it, now? I can't think of anyone, off hand, who could sit in Peter Worthington's vacated chair.
By the way, good eye-opening column, Mr. Salutin.
5 comments:
When did the Sun start getting so right wing? Back in the day, they were more left of center, with its blue collar demographic.
I'm not sure when it happened, probably a case of being more gradual a change... then Quebecor took over. It's a shame in the grand scheme of things. The Toronto Sun could be a real newspaper if it really wanted to be, instead of a mouthpiece. (All papers are mouthpieces to an extent, but the Sun takes it to a ridiculous level, and loses credibility with anyone over "an I.Q. of one" [as Archie Bunker once referred to 'Stretch' Cunningham'].)
Ah, the irony! In my multiple career adventures, I have found that the (often well-paid) "blue collar" working class types were quite right-wing in their mindset. I'll never forget working a summer job as an on-site timekeeper / Boy Friday for a structural steel company that was erecting - of all things - the "new" CBC Broadcast Centre at 250 Front Street in Toronto. I kept track of time cards and wrote up numerous WSIB accident reports for large crew of Ironworkers (at that time the "International Association of Bridge and Structural Ironworkers"). My favourite irony was a crusty foreman (and former British Merchant Navy seaman) who liked to refer to even the slightest left leaning persons (e.g., liberals) as "those Commie bastards"...
Excellent article by Salutin, btw - thanks for the heads up, Barry!
You are welcome!
Yeah, it's really interesting how someone gets or falls into that mindset. Even more interesting is the fact that they decide to sit there and not expand the mind.
Thanks for the notes regarding that job, and 'character'!
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