The Little Paper That Grew: Inside the Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation

Helen Holmes is director of communications studies at the University of
Calgary, and co-editor of Seeing Ourselves: Media Power and Policy in
Canada.

In the years since The Calgary Sun was introduced, I have found it
necessary to modify my initial disdain. Like many, I once considered it
shallow, inflammatory, and often sexist. Over time, however, I have come
to realize that the Sun’s reporting is sometimes more accurate and
thoughtful than that of its serious senior sister, the Calgary Herald. I
was thus eager to read the success story of this “little paper that
grew.”

Unfortunately, this book is gossipy, titillating, thoughtlessly
right-wing, and lacking in substance. Many characters in Sonmor’s vast
cast are simply uninteresting, and the profusion of often irrelevant
details provided about their quarrels and quirks is likely to be of
interest only to the participants themselves. And unless Sonmor spent
years lurking behind corners with a tape recorder, the “dialogue” is
bogus. By adopting the worst characteristics of the Sun, Sonmor
reinforces and perpetuates the brave little paper’s not wholly
deserved reputation.