Example of lame Toronto Star reporting

[stuntman]

I think most people that read The Star would agree that there reporting is really lame.

Here is another example of lame reporting. It is a video of someone showing how to make a $20 a/c unit. Somehow they come to the conclusion it works.

http://www.thestar.com/videos/article/1004908--beat-the-heat-with-this-20-air-conditioner

Anyone else have links to completely lame (not just regular lame) Toronto reporting? Does anyone thing junk like the A/C video is worth much?

[Dina_E]

what so bad about that?

its a basic heat exchanger. forcing warm air through one side and pass the ice and out the other.

if they want to make it colder, should add some salt to the ice to lower the freezing point.

[Asmegin]

I work out of my vehicle (can't run vehicle and windows always up), so I built one of those a few years ago.

Works decent for about 5-6 hours in 28-30 Celsius weather. It doesn't really cool down the vehicle, but the air coming from the exhaust tube cools you down.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/34266_415611893863_7222777_n.jpg

[stuntman]

what so bad about that?

its a basic heat exchanger. forcing warm air through one side and pass the ice and out the other.

if they want to make it colder, should add some salt to the ice to lower the freezing point.

After setting it up the reporter says he is going to bring it inside to see if it works.
-placed a thermometer right at the exit hole
-proclaims it works because the air in the room is 27C and the output of the a/c measures 22C
-proclaims it works because he can feel the cold air coming out of it 1 foot away.

I could get the same results with a drink cup filled with booze and ice!!!
The guy should feel shame posting that and calling himself a reporter.

Couldn't he actually go an cool down a room and report on how long it took or how cold he could make it???

[45ED]

After setting it up the reporter says he is going to bring it inside to see if it works.
-placed a thermometer right at the exit hole
-proclaims it works because the air in the room is 27C and the output of the a/c measures 22C
-proclaims it works because he can feel the cold air coming out of it 1 foot away.

I could get the same results with a drink cup filled with booze and ice!!!
The guy should feel shame posting that and calling himself a reporter.

Couldn't he actually go an cool down a room and report on how long it took or how cold he could make it???

For someone who has a "problem" with the Star, you appear to read it a lot.

[Ottomaddox]

It's a fluff piece. Are you going to complain about the comics next?

[Xpwmata]

LOL!
Still better than anything the Globe&Mail craps out though.

[stuntman]

For someone who has a "problem" with the Star, you appear to read it a lot.
I do read the paper....not all of the Toronto Star stuff is garbage but they do have to really lame bits.
If you have a problem with your car do you throw it away?


It's a fluff piece. Are you going to complain about the comics next?

The guy is supposed to be a reporter. It is not even a good fluff piece. I would expect more out of a youtube video

[LaserEnvy]

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/1131526--youtube-video-of-minor-accident-on-401-sparks-onslaught-of-threats-venom-racism401-car-scam-foiled-by-dashboard-camera-and-youtube-not-what-it-seems

[No Frills]

Like someone else said here, compared to The Sun, The Star reads like a scholarly journal.

[nauru]

Like someone else said here, compared to The Sun, The Star reads like a scholarly journal.
The Star, crappy as it can be, is still miles ahead of garbage like the Globe and Mail, not to mention the Toronto Sun...

[stuntman]

I work out of my vehicle (can't run vehicle and windows always up), so I built one of those a few years ago.

Works decent for about 5-6 hours in 28-30 Celsius weather. It doesn't really cool down the vehicle, but the air coming from the exhaust tube cools you down.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/34266_415611893863_7222777_n.jpg

Thanks for the review. Did you ever think of becoming a reporter and displacing a few lame reporters?

[BornRuff]

I think most people that read The Star would agree that there reporting is really lame.

Here is another example of lame reporting. It is a video of someone showing how to make a $20 a/c unit. Somehow they come to the conclusion it works.

http://www.thestar.com/videos/article/1004908--beat-the-heat-with-this-20-air-conditioner

Anyone else have links to completely lame (not just regular lame) Toronto reporting? Does anyone thing junk like the A/C video is worth much?

Honestly, if you are going to attack the Star's journalism, this is far from the best place to start. This is just a fluff piece, as others have already pointed out.

At least when you google "Toronto Star" the first sub heading is "News", rather than "Sunshine Girl".

[LostInTruth]

Honestly, if you are going to attack the Star's journalism, this is far from the best place to start. This is just a fluff piece, as others have already pointed out.

At least when you google "Toronto Star" the first sub heading is "News", rather than "Sunshine Girl".

+1 - At least one thread a day is cited from Toronto Star.

[mbg]

Agree, but I read the Star more than others so don't know if it's just the Star or whether the quality of journalism is just going down in general to meet citizen journalism in the middle of the low end :) Whatever we end up with will be worse, either way.

There are a lot more typos and mis-spellings over the past year or so.

They had a story recently about corruption in the Quebec government tied to the construction industry. Nowhere did they refer to their own story from a year or two ago that showed construction projects in Quebec cost way more than anywhere else in the country.

Some of their reporters have written good books on various subjects (especially local crime -- The Bandido Massacre (on the rural Ontario biker massacre from a number of years ago), Bad Seeds (on the Galloway gang problems in Scarborough)), but they don't seem to save their best for the paper :)

[BornRuff]

Agree, but I read the Star more than others so don't know if it's just the Star or whether the quality of journalism is just going down in general to meet citizen journalism in the middle of the low end :) Whatever we end up with will be worse, either way.

There are a lot more typos and mis-spellings over the past year or so.

They had a story recently about corruption in the Quebec government tied to the construction industry. Nowhere did they refer to their own story from a year or two ago that showed construction projects in Quebec cost way more than anywhere else in the country.

Some of their reporters have written good books on various subjects (especially local crime -- The Bandido Massacre (on the rural Ontario biker massacre from a number of years ago), Bad Seeds (on the Galloway gang problems in Scarborough)), but they don't seem to save their best for the paper :)

With the online stuff, there is a huge push towards getting stories up quickly, and constantly updating them. If you get the real paper, it is more polished, and there are still more well researched and written pieces from time to time.

[manmanny]

With the online stuff, there is a huge push towards getting stories up quickly, and constantly updating them. If you get the real paper, it is more polished, and there are still more well researched and written pieces from time to time.

That made me laugh.

"Star’s mistake links wrong Iranian professors to academic plagiarism (http://www.thestar.com/opinion/publiceditor/article/1133379--star-s-mistake-links-wrong-iranian-professors-to-academic-plagiarism)"

"Here’s how Google comes in. The Star’s reporter, Anita Li, was assigned to this story, which was first reported by the Ryerson School of Journalism’s student-run Ryersonian newspaper. (It also reported the same incorrect university of Mehdi Dehghan.)

The Ryerson prof whose work was plagiarized bears no responsibility for this error. After Li contacted him, he sent her a copy of the journal’s official confirmation naming “Dr. Mehdi Dehghan” and another Iranian academic as the plagiarists. That document did not state their university affiliation.

“To fact-check, I googled the professors’ names. When googling “Mehdi Dehghan,” the first entry was Mehdi Dehghan of the Amirkabir University of Technology,” Li said.

"Li made the incorrect assumption that this Iranian academic was the same Mehdi Dehghan who had plagiarized Fernando’s article. She thus wrote that Mehdi Dehghan was based at Amirkabir University, exposing both of that institution’s same-named profs to questions from academics around the world about whether one of them had plagiarized. "

[ferkel]

What? The Star wrote an article other than blasting Rob Ford or RIM? Shame shame

[mbg]

U.S. housing crisis: Neighbours organize ‘flash mobs’ to stop thieves from stripping empty homes (http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1220349--u-s-housing-crisis-neighbours-organize-flash-mobs-to-stop-thieves-from-stripping-empty-homes)

Headline and story setup both imply that an empty house was being ripped off of its limestone balcony and fireplace mantles. It is then followed by stories of legitimate theft from empty foreclosed-on houses. But, the people doing the "ripping off" of the lead item were actually contractors hired by the new owner to remove these items. There's evidence later in the article that they knew this, but it isn't made clear anywhere in the article.

Cottage country Wi-Fi sags during Canada Day crush (http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1220462--cottage-country-wi-fi-sags-during-canada-day-crush)

"Wi-Fi" mixed in with stories of sporadic cellphone coverage during busy weekends in cottage country. Reporter seems to think Wi-Fi and cellphone service are the same thing. What does cell service have to do the amount of fibre bandwidth allocated to Internet service? What does some lady not being able to browse the Internet at the cottage have to do with "Wi-Fi congestion"?

[GangStarr]

U.S. housing crisis: Neighbours organize ‘flash mobs’ to stop thieves from stripping empty homes (http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1220349--u-s-housing-crisis-neighbours-organize-flash-mobs-to-stop-thieves-from-stripping-empty-homes)

Headline and story setup both imply that an empty house was being ripped off of its limestone balcony and fireplace mantles. It is then followed by stories of legitimate theft from empty foreclosed-on houses. But, the people doing the "ripping off" of the lead item were actually contractors hired by the new owner to remove these items. There's evidence later in the article that they knew this, but it isn't made clear anywhere in the article.



100% agreed, you took the words right out of my head when I finished reading that article. Misleading and long to top it all off.

[manmanny]

What? The Star wrote an article other than blasting Rob Ford or RIM? Shame shame

LOL...here you go. Daniel Dale is back from Greece.

Mayor Rob Ford says he didn’t drive past open streetcar door (http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1221041--mayor-rob-ford-says-he-didn-t-drive-past-open-streetcar-door)

"Police Staff Sgt. David Stirling confirmed that the Highway Traffic Act requires drivers to stay back two metres only from a door that is open. He added that it is still “probably most prudent and safe” for drivers to stay behind the streetcar entirely if the front door is open and back door is closed."

"Bob Kinnear, president of Local 113 Amalgamated Transit Union, said he now accepts that Ford stopped before the open front door. (He had said last week that he was not entirely sure what had happened.) But he said the mayor still endangered passengers’ safety by passing the closed back door."

[CDNPatriot]

Compared to the Toronto Sun...

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-kqYWjlz90T8/TumNsjMb2dI/AAAAAAAAI7o/515c7nHCdYY/s1600/2011-12-13%25255B10%25255D.png

[stealth]

Compared to the Toronto Sun...

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-kqYWjlz90T8/TumNsjMb2dI/AAAAAAAAI7o/515c7nHCdYY/s1600/2011-12-13%25255B10%25255D.png

In fairness, at least that story turned out to be true....unlike some of what the Star prints.

I personally think they both suck though. Both pander to their bases in different ways.

[Maxman]

Compared to the Toronto Sun...

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-kqYWjlz90T8/TumNsjMb2dI/AAAAAAAAI7o/515c7nHCdYY/s1600/2011-12-13%25255B10%25255D.png


Here you go:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1100815--ttc-subway-sex-leads-to-charges-against-couple

[wilsonlam97]

A more fun mod would be to turn a useless mini fridge into a real working a/c and controllable by a programmable thermostat. I imagine that to be easy how-to considering the parts are all there already.

[CDNPatriot]

Here you go:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1100815--ttc-subway-sex-leads-to-charges-against-couple

It didn't make it to the front page as the Sun though.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_PK0EOWvC8YI/S8CHtX5Y61I/AAAAAAAAGcI/_obCukvG-a4/TorontoSunCover-Apr10-2010_thumb%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800

[BornRuff]

A more fun mod would be to turn a useless mini fridge into a real working a/c and controllable by a programmable thermostat. I imagine that to be easy how-to considering the parts are all there already.

I think that would do more harm than good. I remember from one of those old kids science shows(Bill Nye, Inquiring Minds, PMK, etc) that the motors that run a fridge actually give off more heat than they actually cool down the inside of the fridge. It is perfectly efficient at cooling the tiny inside space of a fridge, but if you try to make it cool the whole house, it will just be working against the heat it creates itself.

[BornRuff]

Here you go:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1100815--ttc-subway-sex-leads-to-charges-against-couple

There is a difference between reporting something, and making it your front page with a cheeky headline.

[Muney]

Compared to the Toronto Sun...

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-kqYWjlz90T8/TumNsjMb2dI/AAAAAAAAI7o/515c7nHCdYY/s1600/2011-12-13%25255B10%25255D.png

Nobody claimed the Sun was any better. Truth be told the Sun is hardly a newspaper anymore.

[Maxman]

It didn't make it to the front page as the Sun though.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_PK0EOWvC8YI/S8CHtX5Y61I/AAAAAAAAGcI/_obCukvG-a4/TorontoSunCover-Apr10-2010_thumb%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800


There is a difference between reporting something, and making it your front page with a cheeky headline.



RIGHT! Only if it fits your political slant though!

Both papers ran the same story - and given that it was so memorable - it must have been newsworthy.

[rems]

Funny I was just reading this Star article
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/transportation/article/1221075--toronto-ranks-8th-in-world-in-revised-liveability-index

and noticed that in OTHER NA cities, it lists Toronto again...

[flyinggonzo]

There's nothing wrong with the AC idea they posted - it's actually a decent solution particularly if you can't afford a unit (i.e. you live in an apartment with no AC and are not allowed to install a unit).

That said, the quality of the Star's reporting isn't particularly high and I find that their stories are not balanced as generally, the more established person or corporation will almost always be the villain, where the real situation is much murkier. I do think the Star is good for getting the pulse of what the average person thinks and they clearly have good insider links into government, particularly the energy sector (which I follow). Finally, the Star is the only paper which does investigative reporting of any real substance. I mean, the change at TDSB wasn't going to happen without a good kick from a media outlet and I can't think of any other media outlet which would have had the drive and reach to make the issue big enough to force change.

[BornRuff]

RIGHT! Only if it fits your political slant though!

Both papers ran the same story - and given that it was so memorable - it must have been newsworthy.

What is political about that story?

It is simply a difference in how they chose to handle the story. Publishing the picture as almost the entire front page with a lame attempt at a witty remark is different than simply reporting that it happened.

[manmanny]

In fairness, at least that story turned out to be true....unlike some of what the Star prints.

I personally think they both suck though. Both pander to their bases in different ways.

lol...parrot was quick on draw to post old article and defend Toronto Star.

[flashy_mcflash]

What exactly is the Toronto Star's 'base', as it compares to the Sun? Their readership is nearly double that of the Sun (http://nadbank.com/en/system/files/2011OverviewofResults%28EN%29_0.pdf) which cannot be accounted for entirely by left-leaning folks.