{"id":3094,"date":"2008-05-01T21:23:25","date_gmt":"2008-05-02T02:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/2008\/05\/01\/sun-rises-to-own-defense\/"},"modified":"2008-05-02T06:25:17","modified_gmt":"2008-05-02T11:25:17","slug":"sun-rises-to-own-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/05\/01\/sun-rises-to-own-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"Sun rises to own defense"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

More than a month after Councillor Howard Moscoe<\/a> went to City Council with a motion accusing the <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1> Sun<\/em> of being a deadbeat tenant, columnist Sue-Ann Levy defended<\/a> her employer. As far as the public record is concerned, this is the first time the Sun <\/em>has been heard from on the matter.<\/p>\n

Councillor Moscoe, backed by City of <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1> staff, said that the Sun <\/em>owed more than $50,000 for their office space in the city hall press gallery until they paid up after he filed his motion<\/a> (PDF). In today’s column, Levy doesn’t deny that there was $50,000 in arrears but says the debt was paid in 2004, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153according to our (Sun<\/em>) records.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

<\/o>The Sun’s <\/em>excuse for not paying up was that, according to their lawyer, the City wouldn’t negotiate a lease after it began charging the media for what was at one time \u00e2\u20ac\u0153rent-free\u00e2\u20ac\u009d space.<\/p>\n

<\/o>Clearly this is a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153he said\/she said\u00e2\u20ac\u009d game but the Sun’s <\/em>response just isn’t smart communication strategy and it makes me think the City’s side of the story, on the balance of probability, is more accurate.<\/p>\n

This issue came to light on March 12 and today is May 1. Fifty days elapsed before the Sun <\/em>decided it had anything to say on the matter. If the case is so cut and dry from the Sun’s <\/em>perspective, why did it take them more than a month and a half to cobble together a response? As any public relations practitioner knows (that’s my professional background), you don’t stay silent when someone attacks your brand. Forget the lawyers’ advice; your brand is your business. In this case, the Sun’s <\/em>brand is standing up for the average taxpayer (whether you think they do it well is another question) and Councillor Moscoe’s motion challenges that in no uncertain terms.<\/p>\n

The Sun’s <\/em>first public statement on this came in the form of a column by one of its writers. Trying to present the Sun’s position through a journalist on staff reeks of desperation. Who really believes that Levy could be even marginally objective? Not that I would expect her to withhold her opinion — for better or worse, Levy’s bread and butter is opinion — but if Levy said the Sun <\/em>was spinning lies or half truths, does anyone believe the people writing Levy’s pay cheques would have let that story go to print?<\/p>\n

The next mistake was making a lawyer the company spokesperson. If I’m worried about protecting my butt, I get my lawyer to speak for me. Having a lawyer front and centre is the universal sign for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I’ve got something to hide.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The second and third communication errors could have been avoided if the Sun’s <\/em>publisher had written the message in the paper. Words from the publisher mean that no one appears to be hiding and a journalist’s integrity doesn’t have to be questioned. And most importantly, whatever the publisher has to say is the word from the top and if they’re convincing words readers will accept them.<\/p>\n

Finally, Levy used more bluster than Tim Hudak<\/a> during question period in her attempt to discredit Sun <\/em>detractors. Granted she usually obfuscates serious policy matters with silly insults but if Levy’s putting forward the corporate position on this, a reasonable person could be excused for wondering if she was just trying to throw readers off the Sun’s <\/em>trail with this tactic.<\/p>\n

But in all of this, the Sun <\/em>hasn’t addressed two key questions that I’m sure the entire world wants the answers to: Will the Sun <\/em>reject the subsidy the City is offering and pay market value for their city hall office? And will the Sun <\/em>pay the market rate for their now free parking spot in the city hall garage? Regardless of one’s opinion on these questions for all media outlets, the Sun <\/em>has spent more column inches than all the other local papers combined to skewer those who take advantage of these types of perks. It only seems appropriate that the answer to both questions is Yes. Any other answer would be shamefully hypocritical.<\/p>\n

Photograph by Salty Sea Dog<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than a month after Councillor Howard Moscoe went to City Council with a motion accusing the Toronto Sun of being a deadbeat tenant, columnist Sue-Ann Levy defended her employer. As far as the public record is concerned, this is the first time the Sun has been heard from on the matter. Councillor Moscoe, backedContinue reading “Sun rises to own defense”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4037,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8892,408,1460,1463,3126,2938,8891,3703,8893,19,391],"class_list":["post-3094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-company-spokesperson","tag-councillor","tag-journalist","tag-lawyer","tag-media-outlets","tag-moscoe","tag-suns-trail","tag-the-sun","tag-tim-hudak","tag-toronto","tag-usd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSun rises to own defense - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/05\/01\/sun-rises-to-own-defense\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sun rises to own defense - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More than a month after Councillor Howard Moscoe went to City Council with a motion accusing the Toronto Sun of being a deadbeat tenant, columnist Sue-Ann Levy defended her employer. 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