J-Source

Rob Ford goes to KFC, Toronto Star runs video: Is it a story?

Sure, the mayor is on a diet. But did a grainy, context-free citizen-submitted video really warrant being run by a newspaper? (Especially one that has an open feud with Mayor Ford?) As Toronto Life so eloquently put it: “Rob Ford goes to KFC. That is all.” Sure, the mayor is on a diet. But did…

Sure, the mayor is on a diet. But did a grainy, context-free citizen-submitted video really warrant being run by a newspaper? (Especially one that has an open feud with Mayor Ford?)

As Toronto Life so eloquently put it: “Rob Ford goes to KFC. That is all.”

Sure, the mayor is on a diet. But did a grainy, context-free citizen-submitted video really warrant being run by a newspaper? (Especially one that has an open feud with Mayor Ford?)

Toronto Star ran the video, and then followed it up with an article attempting to explain why they did it. The Toronto Sun, on the other hand, ran this front page, criticizing other media for jumping on the story with the mayor in a Colonel Sanders outfit. The Sun also ran a few pages on it.

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The Star follow-up quotes the person who took the video, who goes only by the name Cordella. Cordella defends the newsworthiness of the video by saying, “If you’re not committed to the diet that you committed to — nobody forced you to go on a diet and tell everybody — how can you be committed to the taxpayers of Toronto and making changes in Toronto?”

Not everyone agreed with this logic.

What do you think?  Are the mayor’s eating habits a newsworthy subject?