A Brief by Doug Draper
I rarely ever said ‘yes’ to his decidedly right-wing positions on issues, but I never ever – not once – questioned his dedication to what little is left of this profession of journalism we both practiced, in our own ways.
Canadian journalist Peter Worthington
Peter Worthington, who died this May 12 at age 87, was an award-winning reporter with the Toronto Telegram – a late, great Canadian daily newspaper that died so sadly in 1971 – and he was one of a handful of Telegram journalists who went on to found The Toronto Sun as a Toronto version of a New York City tabloid that worked as an independent alternative to the surviving, more mainstream dailies, The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star, long before the ungodly likes of Sun Media and Quebecor came along.
Regardless of what people on the more liberal or progressive side of the spectrum may think of him, Peter Worthington was a wonderful writer who had a great passion for journalism , and a book he once wrote of his journalistic escapades, called ‘Looking For Trouble’, bears that out.
We are rapidly losing people like Peter Worthington, who were pumping out engaging stories and columns at a time when newspapers were still newspapers rather than the vacuous vehicles for advertising flyers so many of them are today.
Most people, especially younger people who were not there when newspapers were newspapers, may not realize what it means to lose people like this who, regardless of how you felt about their position on issues, cared enough to make people aware and get them engaged in matters impacting on the health and welfare of our communities.
So here is to you Peter Worthington and to all of the many glorious years, when newspapers were still real newspapers, that you spent looking for trouble.
(Niagara At Large invites you to join in the conversation by sharing your views on the content of this post below. For reasons of transparency and promoting civil dialogue, NAL only posts comments from individuals who share their first and last name with their views.)
Niagara At Large 
I met Peter when I sat on the board of the Toronto Humane, where he also held a seat. These were in the tumultuous days – post Vicki Millar when (sadly) the THS was gutting their advocacy programs. Anyway, Peter commented to me, once – there are 2 kinds of people who read the Sun; those that believe it and those that laugh about it! He was a lovely man and while he and I didn’t discuss his views on other things political – he was solidly on the side of animals and that is where we found our common ground.
LikeLike
Peter was an outspoken and tireless advocate for Leonard Peltier. I always respected him for that.
LikeLike
I never met Peter Worthington. But as a former journalist, I had tremendous respect for him. There are very few true journalists of his stature in Canada or the world today.
When he was in charge at the Toronto Sun, it was a fairly decent newspaper – a bit cheeky at times, but the staff worked hard to put out a good paper.
After Worthington left as editor, the Sun went downhill in a hurry. And the decline really took off like a jet plane when it became just another rag in a succession of media conglomerates. The worst being the current ownership – Quebecor.
LikeLike