Toronto's obscene cover

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/hr.asp?fpVname=CAN_TS&ref_pge=tpt

I don't know much about the media differences between the U.S. and Canada, but what does everyone think of the Toronto Sun cover with people flipping the bird?

 

You know, I'm all for taste considerations on photos. But I also think there is a time when you have to show a photo and tell the truth. Imagine for a moment that the guys in that picture aren't flipping the bird. Now consider the picture with them doing that. It's a pretty powerful picture, isn't it? That picture tells the story of people who riot after their team loses and don't give a fuck about anything. Not sure how it would fly at other papers but I simply can't think of a better picture to tell the story than that one.

 

It's not a photo of two dudes flipping the bird.

It's a photo that's representative of the riot, with two people in team gear, burning wreckage, and a crowd gathered. They just happen to be flipping the bird; it's not really part of the context of the photo.

 

I agree with your point Kato. I just think about the bigger papers in my region, and I know (well, I'm 99% sure) there'd be an uproar if they published that on their front page.

 

A mobile home was stolen?

 

Somewhat ironically, I had a reporter submit a photo earlier in the day with a woman giving the finger in it. In that instance, I thought it was gratuitous and unnecessary. In the instance of the Star shot, however, I think it captured a moment and it was appropriate.

 

"What else are you going to do when you lose the Stanley Cup? You riot."

A money quote if ever there was.

 

I would not have run this photo if it were my call. The message is the same, whether it's conveyed by the actions of this idiot or in 12-inch letters on his shirt, and I'm not keen on putting that front and center. I understand why others disagree.

 

It would seem that there'd a hundred other phots available that didn't happen to have people flipping off in it.

 

We don't even think twice about something like this anymore, but a different medium, and a different time.

 

Upon further review: I dunno about not running it. That photo tells a lot, mainstream newspaper or no....

 

Did every Canadian paper run the story this prominently on its 1A?

I mean, it could not have been played any bigger in the Toronto paper had it been the Leafs.