The Globe and Mail
Encyclopedia
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian
newspaper
, based in Toronto
and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star
. The Globe and Mail is widely described as Canada's English language newspaper of record
.
, founded in 1844 by Scottish
immigrant George Brown
, who would later become a Father of Confederation
. Brown's liberal politics led him to court the support of the Clear Grits
, precursor to the modern Liberal Party of Canada
. The Globe began in Toronto
as a weekly party organ for Brown's Reform Party, but seeing the economic gains that he could make in the newspaper business, Brown soon targeted a wide audience of liberal minded freeholders. He selected as the motto for the editorial page a quotation from Junius
, "The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures." The quotation is carried on the editorial page daily to this day.
By the 1850s, The Globe had become an independent and well-regarded daily newspaper. It began distribution by railway to other cities in Ontario
shortly after Canadian Confederation
. At the dawn of the twentieth century, The Globe added photography, a women's section, and the slogan "Canada's National Newspaper," which remains on its front-page banner today. It began opening bureaus and offering subscriptions across Canada.
On November 23, 1936, The Globe (which had a circulation of 78,000 by this point) merged with The Mail and Empire
(circulation 118,000), itself formed through a merger in 1895 between The Toronto Mail
and Toronto Empire
. The Mail was founded in 1872 by a rival of Brown's, Tory
politician Sir John A. Macdonald. Macdonald was the first Prime Minister of Canada
and the founder of the party that spawned the modern Conservative Party of Canada
, and The Mail served as a Conservative Party organ.
With the merger, The Globe became The Globe and Mail. Press reports at the time stated, "the minnow swallowed the whale". The merger was arranged by George McCullagh
, who fronted for mining magnate William Henry Wright
and became the first publisher of The Globe and Mail. McCullagh committed suicide in 1952, and the newspaper was sold to the Webster family of Montreal. As the paper lost ground to The Toronto Star in the local Toronto market, it began to expand its national circulation.
In 1965, the paper was bought by Winnipeg-based FP Publications, controlled by Brig. Richard Malone, which owned a chain of local Canadian newspapers. FP put a strong emphasis on the Report on Business
section that was launched in 1962, thereby building the paper's reputation as the voice of Toronto's business community. FP Publications and The Globe and Mail were sold in 1980 to The Thomson Corporation, a company run by the family of Kenneth Thomson.
In 2001, The Globe and Mail was combined with broadcast assets held by Bell Canada
to form the joint venture Bell Globemedia
. Nine years later, at the end of 2010, the Thomson family, through its holding company Woodbridge
, acquired direct control of The Globe and Mail with an 85-percent stake. BCE continues to hold 15 percent.
The Globe and Mail has always been a morning newspaper. Since the 1980s, it has been printed in separate editions in six Canadian cities: Halifax, Montreal
, Toronto (several editions), Winnipeg
(actually printed in Brandon, Manitoba
), Calgary
and Vancouver
.
In 1995, the paper launched its Web site, globeandmail.com; on June 9, 2000, the Web site began covering breaking news with its own content and journalists in addition to the content of the print newspaper. It later spawned a companion Web site, globeinvestor.com, focusing on financial and investment-related news. In 2004, access to some features of globeandmail.com became restricted to paid subscribers only. The subscription service was revised a few years later to become a service called Globe Plus, which offers an e-edition of the newspaper, access to its archives, as well as membership to a premium investment site.
elite—that is, the Bay Street
financial community of Toronto and the intellectuals of university and government institutions. The merger of the Liberal
Globe and the Tory
Mail and Empire prefigured the paper's characteristically Red Tory
editorial stance, as its support alternated between the two established national parties. In the past century, the paper has consistently endorsed either the Liberal Party or the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
in every federal election. The paper had endorsed a third party
on two occasions at the provincial level: it endorsed the social-democratic New Democratic Party
in the 1991 Saskatchewan provincial election
and British Columbia provincial election
. The New Democrats won both elections and went on to form provincial governments.
While the paper was known as a generally conservative voice of the business establishment in the postwar decades, historian David Hayes, in a review of its positions, has noted that the Globe's editorials in this period "took a benign view of hippies and homosexuals; championed most aspects of the welfare state; opposed, after some deliberation, the Vietnam War; and supported legalizing marijuana." It was a 1967 Globe and Mail editorial that coined the phrase "The State has no place in the bedrooms of the nation," in defence of legalization of homosexuality. The line was later picked up by future Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
to become one of his most famous slogans.
Under the editorship of William Thorsell in the 1980s and 1990s, the paper strongly endorsed the free trade policies of Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
. The paper also became an outspoken proponent of the Meech Lake Accord
and the Charlottetown Accord
, with their editorial the day of the 1995 Quebec Referendum
mostly quoting a Mulroney speech in favour of the Accord. During this period, the paper continued to favour such socially liberal policies as decriminalizing drugs (including cocaine, whose legalization was advocated most recently in a 1995 editorial) and expanding gay rights.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the paper generally supported the policies of Liberal Prime Ministers Jean Chrétien
and Paul Martin
. In the 2006 federal election
, the paper turned away from the Liberals to Stephen Harper
's Conservative Party of Canada
. In the subsequent 2008 federal election
and 2011 federal election the paper's editorial board again endorsed the Conservatives.
, part of a wider humorous portrayal of Torontonians being blind to the greater concerns of the nation. (A reverse criticism is sometimes applied to The New York Times
, with regards to its shrinking New York coverage in relation to its US coverage). Critics sometimes refer to the paper as the Toronto Globe and Mail or Toronto's National Newspaper. Recently, in an effort to gain market share in Vancouver, The Globe and Mail began publishing a distinct west-coast edition, edited independently in Vancouver, containing a three-page section of British Columbia news.
Other satirical nicknames for the paper include Mop and Pail or Grope and Flail, both of which were coined by longtime Globe and Mail humour columnist Richard J. Needham
. The University of British Columbia
's student paper, The Ubyssey
published a parody issue titled Glib and Male. The spring 2008 issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism
referenced the nickname "Old and Male" for the paper's employee base and perceived target audience.
Since the launch of the National Post
as another English-language national paper in 1998, some industry analysts have proclaimed a "national newspaper war" between The Globe and Mail and the National Post. Thus far, however, The Globe and Mail has continued to outsell the National Post.
On April 23, 2007, the paper introduced significant changes to its print design and also introduced a new unified navigation system to its websites. The paper added a "lifestyle" section to the Monday-Friday editions, entitled Globe Life, which has been described as an attempt to attract readers from the rival Toronto Star
. Additionally, the paper followed other North American papers by dropping detailed stock listings in print and by shrinking the printed paper to a 12-inch width.
During the 2010 Winter Olympics
, which were staged in Vancouver, The Globe and Mail published a Sunday edition, making it the first time that the paper has ever published on Sunday.
Europe
Middle East, Asia and Africa
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
, based in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
. The Globe and Mail is widely described as Canada's English language newspaper of record
Newspaper of record
Newspaper of record is a term that may refer either to any publicly available newspaper that has been authorized by a government to publish public or legal notices , or any major newspaper that has a large circulation and whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered professional and...
.
History
The predecessor to The Globe and Mail was The GlobeThe Globe (Toronto newspaper)
The Globe was a newspaper in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1844 by George Brown as a Reform voice. It merged with The Mail and Empire in 1936 to form The Globe and Mail.-History:...
, founded in 1844 by Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
immigrant George Brown
George Brown (Canadian politician)
George Brown was a Scottish-born Canadian journalist, politician and one of the Fathers of Confederation...
, who would later become a Father of Confederation
Fathers of Confederation
The Fathers of Confederation are the people who attended the Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences in 1864 and the London Conference of 1866 in England, preceding Canadian Confederation. The following lists the participants in the Charlottetown, Quebec, and London Conferences and their attendance at...
. Brown's liberal politics led him to court the support of the Clear Grits
Clear Grits
Clear Grits were reformers in the Province of Upper Canada, a British colony that is now the Province of Ontario, Canada. Their support was concentrated among southwestern Ontario farmers, who were frustrated and disillusioned by the 1849 Reform government of Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte...
, precursor to the modern Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
. The Globe began in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
as a weekly party organ for Brown's Reform Party, but seeing the economic gains that he could make in the newspaper business, Brown soon targeted a wide audience of liberal minded freeholders. He selected as the motto for the editorial page a quotation from Junius
Junius
Junius was the pseudonym of a writer who contributed a series of letters to the Public Advertiser, from 21 January 1769 to 21 January 1772. The signature had been already used, apparently by him, in a letter of 21 November 1768...
, "The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures." The quotation is carried on the editorial page daily to this day.
By the 1850s, The Globe had become an independent and well-regarded daily newspaper. It began distribution by railway to other cities in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
shortly after Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
. At the dawn of the twentieth century, The Globe added photography, a women's section, and the slogan "Canada's National Newspaper," which remains on its front-page banner today. It began opening bureaus and offering subscriptions across Canada.
On November 23, 1936, The Globe (which had a circulation of 78,000 by this point) merged with The Mail and Empire
The Mail and Empire
The Mail and Empire was formed from the 1895 merger of The Toronto Mail and Toronto Empire newspapers, both conservative newspapers in Toronto, Canada. The paper merged with The Globe to form the The Globe and Mail in 1936....
(circulation 118,000), itself formed through a merger in 1895 between The Toronto Mail
The Toronto Mail
The Toronto Mail was a newspaper in Toronto, Ontario, which through corporate mergers became first The Mail and Empire, and then The Globe and Mail.The Mail was founded in 1872 by John A. Macdonald,...
and Toronto Empire
Toronto Empire
Toronto Empire was a newspaper established in Toronto, Canada, in 1887 and the voice of the conservatives in the city. It merged with another paper, The Toronto Mail, in 1895 to form The Mail and Empire, which is a predecessor of today's Globe and Mail newspaper....
. The Mail was founded in 1872 by a rival of Brown's, Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
politician Sir John A. Macdonald. Macdonald was the first Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
and the founder of the party that spawned the modern Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
, and The Mail served as a Conservative Party organ.
With the merger, The Globe became The Globe and Mail. Press reports at the time stated, "the minnow swallowed the whale". The merger was arranged by George McCullagh
George McCullagh
Clement George McCullagh was an influential Canadian newspaper owner between 1936-52. He created The Globe and Mail by merging the Liberal-allied Globe and Conservative-allied Mail and Empire newspapers in 1936...
, who fronted for mining magnate William Henry Wright
William Henry Wright
William Henry "Bill" Wright was a Canadian prospector who discovered the Kirkland Lake Break, which hosted seven gold-producing mines. He used the proceeds from his gold finds to launch a national newspaper in Canada, The Globe and Mail.-Early life:Wright was born in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England...
and became the first publisher of The Globe and Mail. McCullagh committed suicide in 1952, and the newspaper was sold to the Webster family of Montreal. As the paper lost ground to The Toronto Star in the local Toronto market, it began to expand its national circulation.
In 1965, the paper was bought by Winnipeg-based FP Publications, controlled by Brig. Richard Malone, which owned a chain of local Canadian newspapers. FP put a strong emphasis on the Report on Business
Report on Business
Report on Business, commonly referred to as simply ROB, is the financial section of The Globe and Mail, a large Toronto-based Canadian newspaper. It is the most lengthy completion of economic news in Canada, and is considered an integral part of the newspaper...
section that was launched in 1962, thereby building the paper's reputation as the voice of Toronto's business community. FP Publications and The Globe and Mail were sold in 1980 to The Thomson Corporation, a company run by the family of Kenneth Thomson.
In 2001, The Globe and Mail was combined with broadcast assets held by Bell Canada
Bell Canada
Bell Canada is a major Canadian telecommunications company. Including its subsidiaries such as Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, and NorthernTel, it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for telephone and DSL Internet services in most of Canada east of Manitoba and in the northern territories,...
to form the joint venture Bell Globemedia
Bell Globemedia
Bell Media is the mass media subsidiary of BCE . Its operations include television broadcasting and production , radio broadcasting , Digital Media, and Internet properties.Bell Media is the successor-in-interest to Baton Broadcasting...
. Nine years later, at the end of 2010, the Thomson family, through its holding company Woodbridge
The Woodbridge Company
The Woodbridge Company Limited is a Canadian private holding company and the principal and controlling shareholder of Thomson Reuters...
, acquired direct control of The Globe and Mail with an 85-percent stake. BCE continues to hold 15 percent.
The Globe and Mail has always been a morning newspaper. Since the 1980s, it has been printed in separate editions in six Canadian cities: Halifax, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Toronto (several editions), Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
(actually printed in Brandon, Manitoba
Brandon, Manitoba
Brandon is the second largest city in Manitoba, Canada, and is located in the southwestern area of the province. Brandon is the largest city in the Westman region of Manitoba. The city is located along the Assiniboine River. Spruce Woods Provincial Park and CFB Shilo are a relatively short distance...
), Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
and Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
.
In 1995, the paper launched its Web site, globeandmail.com; on June 9, 2000, the Web site began covering breaking news with its own content and journalists in addition to the content of the print newspaper. It later spawned a companion Web site, globeinvestor.com, focusing on financial and investment-related news. In 2004, access to some features of globeandmail.com became restricted to paid subscribers only. The subscription service was revised a few years later to become a service called Globe Plus, which offers an e-edition of the newspaper, access to its archives, as well as membership to a premium investment site.
Political stance
Even before the Globe merged with the Mail and Empire, the paper was widely considered the voice of the Upper CanadaUpper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
elite—that is, the Bay Street
Bay Street
Bay Street, originally known as Bear Street, is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial industry since succeeding Montreal's St. James Street in that role in the 1970s...
financial community of Toronto and the intellectuals of university and government institutions. The merger of the Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
Globe and the Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
Mail and Empire prefigured the paper's characteristically Red Tory
Red Tory
A red Tory is an adherent of a particular political philosophy, tradition, and disposition in Canada somewhat similar to the High Tory tradition in the United Kingdom; it is contrasted with "blue Tory". In Canada, the phenomenon of "red toryism" has fundamentally, if not exclusively, been found in...
editorial stance, as its support alternated between the two established national parties. In the past century, the paper has consistently endorsed either the Liberal Party or the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
in every federal election. The paper had endorsed a third party
Third party (politics)
In a two-party system of politics, the term third party is sometimes applied to a party other than the two dominant ones. While technically the term is limited to the third largest party or third oldest party, it is common, though innumerate, shorthand for any smaller party.For instance, in the...
on two occasions at the provincial level: it endorsed the social-democratic New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
in the 1991 Saskatchewan provincial election
Saskatchewan general election, 1991
The Saskatchewan general election of 1991 was the twenty-second provincial election held in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It was held on October 21, 1991, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan....
and British Columbia provincial election
British Columbia general election, 1991
The British Columbia general election of 1991 was the 35th provincial election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on September 19, 1991, and held on October 17, 1991...
. The New Democrats won both elections and went on to form provincial governments.
While the paper was known as a generally conservative voice of the business establishment in the postwar decades, historian David Hayes, in a review of its positions, has noted that the Globe's editorials in this period "took a benign view of hippies and homosexuals; championed most aspects of the welfare state; opposed, after some deliberation, the Vietnam War; and supported legalizing marijuana." It was a 1967 Globe and Mail editorial that coined the phrase "The State has no place in the bedrooms of the nation," in defence of legalization of homosexuality. The line was later picked up by future Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
to become one of his most famous slogans.
Under the editorship of William Thorsell in the 1980s and 1990s, the paper strongly endorsed the free trade policies of Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
. The paper also became an outspoken proponent of the Meech Lake Accord
Meech Lake Accord
The Meech Lake Accord was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and ten provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the government of the Province of Quebec to endorse the 1982 Canadian Constitution and increase...
and the Charlottetown Accord
Charlottetown Accord
The Charlottetown Accord was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada, proposed by the Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. It was submitted to a public referendum on October 26 of that year, and was defeated.-Background:...
, with their editorial the day of the 1995 Quebec Referendum
1995 Quebec referendum
The 1995 Quebec referendum was the second referendum to ask voters in the Canadian province of Quebec whether Quebec should secede from Canada and become an independent state, through the question:...
mostly quoting a Mulroney speech in favour of the Accord. During this period, the paper continued to favour such socially liberal policies as decriminalizing drugs (including cocaine, whose legalization was advocated most recently in a 1995 editorial) and expanding gay rights.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the paper generally supported the policies of Liberal Prime Ministers Jean Chrétien
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
and Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
. In the 2006 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
, the paper turned away from the Liberals to Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
's Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
. In the subsequent 2008 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2008
The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
and 2011 federal election the paper's editorial board again endorsed the Conservatives.
Recent developments
In recent years, the paper has made changes to its format and layout, such as the introduction of colour photographs, a separate tabloid book-review section and the creation of the Review section on arts, entertainment and culture. Although the paper is sold throughout Canada and has long called itself "Canada's National Newspaper", The Globe and Mail also serves as a Toronto metropolitan paper, publishing several special sections in its Toronto edition that are not included in the national edition. As a result, it is sometimes ridiculed for being too focused on the Greater Toronto AreaGreater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area is the largest metropolitan area in Canada, with a 2006 census population of 5.5 million. The Greater Toronto Area is usually defined as the central city of Toronto, along with four regional municipalities surrounding it: Durham, Halton, Peel, and York...
, part of a wider humorous portrayal of Torontonians being blind to the greater concerns of the nation. (A reverse criticism is sometimes applied to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, with regards to its shrinking New York coverage in relation to its US coverage). Critics sometimes refer to the paper as the Toronto Globe and Mail or Toronto's National Newspaper. Recently, in an effort to gain market share in Vancouver, The Globe and Mail began publishing a distinct west-coast edition, edited independently in Vancouver, containing a three-page section of British Columbia news.
Other satirical nicknames for the paper include Mop and Pail or Grope and Flail, both of which were coined by longtime Globe and Mail humour columnist Richard J. Needham
Richard J. Needham
Richard J. Needham was a Canadian humour columnist for The Globe and Mail.Many of his columns were collected in a variety of books, including The Garden of Needham and Needham's Inferno, which won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour in 1967.Needham also coined Mop and Pail and Grope and...
. The University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
's student paper, The Ubyssey
The Ubyssey
The Ubyssey is the University of British Columbia's student-run paper and is published every Monday and Thursday. Founded in 1918, The Ubyssey is a member of Canadian University Press , and is the largest student run paper in Western Canada, second largest in Canada...
published a parody issue titled Glib and Male. The spring 2008 issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism
Ryerson Review of Journalism
The Ryerson Review of Journalism is a Canadian magazine, published twice annually by final year journalism students at Ryerson University. The magazine profiles personalities, issues and controversies in Canadian media. In addition to the features in the printed magazine, weekly online features...
referenced the nickname "Old and Male" for the paper's employee base and perceived target audience.
Since the launch of the National Post
National Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
as another English-language national paper in 1998, some industry analysts have proclaimed a "national newspaper war" between The Globe and Mail and the National Post. Thus far, however, The Globe and Mail has continued to outsell the National Post.
On April 23, 2007, the paper introduced significant changes to its print design and also introduced a new unified navigation system to its websites. The paper added a "lifestyle" section to the Monday-Friday editions, entitled Globe Life, which has been described as an attempt to attract readers from the rival Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
. Additionally, the paper followed other North American papers by dropping detailed stock listings in print and by shrinking the printed paper to a 12-inch width.
During the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
, which were staged in Vancouver, The Globe and Mail published a Sunday edition, making it the first time that the paper has ever published on Sunday.
Redesign and relaunch 2010
On October 1, 2010, The Globe and Mail unveiled redesigns to both its paper and online formats, dubbed "the most significant redesign in The Globe's history" by Editor-in-Chief John Stackhouse. The paper version has a bolder, more visual presentation that features 100% full-colour pages, more graphics, slightly glossy paper stock (with the use of state-of-the-art heat-set printing presses), and emphasis on lifestyle and similar sections (an approached dubbed "Globe-lite" by one media critic). The Globe and Mail sees this redesign as a step toward the future (promoted as such by a commercial featuring a young girl on a bicycle), as well as a step towards provoking debate on national issues (the October 1 edition featured a rare front page editorial above the Globe and Mail banner).Senior editors
- John StackhouseJohn Stackhouse (Globe and Mail)John Stackhouse is a Canadian journalist and author. He was the editor of the Globe and Mail's Report on Business section and, on May 25, 2009, he was promoted to editor-in-chief of the newspaper....
, editor-in-chief - David Walmsley, managing editor, News and Sports
- Natasha Hassan, comment editor
- Tom Maloney, sports editor
- Andrew Gorham, arts editor
- Stephen Northfield, foreign editor
- Sinclair Stewart, national editor
- Sylvia Stead, deputy editor
- Elena Cherney, editor, Report on Business
- Derek DeCloet, managing editor, Report on Business
- John Geiger, editorial board editor
- Jill Borra, managing editor, features
- Adrian Norris, managing editor, presentation
- Anjai Kapoor, managing editor, digital
Foreign bureaux
North America- Paul KoringPaul KoringPaul Koring a Canadian journalist and foreign correspondent for The Globe and Mail. He is currently posted to the Washington Bureau as the paper's foreign affairs and international security correspondent....
, Washington Bureau Chief - Barrie McKenna, Washington Bureau
Europe
- Doug SaundersDoug SaundersDoug Saunders is a well-known British-Canadian journalist and author, a columnist and reporter for the Globe and Mail, a Canadian national newspaper based in Toronto, Canada...
, European Bureau Chief (London) - Elizabeth Renzetti, European Bureau (London)
- Eric RegulyEric RegulyEric Reguly is a Canadian newspaper columnist. His articles appear almost daily in Report on Business, the financial section of Toronto-based The Globe and Mail. Reguly is also a writer for Report on Business Magazine, and occasionally contributes to Globe Auto, the automotive section of the...
, European Bureau (Rome) - Graeme SmithGraeme Smith (journalist)Graeme Smith is a foreign correspondent for The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper. He was stationed in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2009. Previously he was based in Moscow...
, Istanbul Bureau
Middle East, Asia and Africa
- Patrick MartinPatrick Martin (journalist)Patrick Martin is a Canadian journalist who is the Jerusalem-based Middle East bureau chief for The Globe and Mail, a national newspaper....
, Middle East Bureau Chief (Jerusalem) - Geoffrey York, Africa Bureau Chief (Johannesburg)
- Stephanie NolenStephanie NolenStephanie Nolen is a Canadian journalist and writer. She is currently the South Asia correspondent for The Globe and Mail. From 2003 to 2008, she was the Globe's Africa correspondent, and she has reported from more than 40 countries around the world...
, South Asia Bureau Chief (New Delhi) - Mark MacKinnonMark MacKinnonMark MacKinnon is a Canadian journalist, currently the Beijing bureau chief for Canada's national newspaper, The Globe and Mail...
, China Bureau Chief (Beijing)
Staff columnists
- Ian BrownIan Brown (journalist)Ian Brown is a Canadian journalist and author, winner of several national magazine and newspaper awards.He is currently the host of Human Edge and The View from Here on TVOntario, and has hosted programming for CBC Radio One, including Later the Same Day, Talking Books, and Sunday Morning...
- John Barber
- Stephen BruntStephen BruntStephen Brunt is a Canadian sports journalist, well known as a leading columnist for The Globe and Mail and as co-host to Bob McCown on Prime Time Sports.- Journalist :...
, Sports - Beppi Crosariol, Wine and Spirits
- John DoyleJohn Doyle (critic)John Doyle is one of the two television critics with Canada's The Globe and Mail newspaper. Doyle also covers major football events for the paper....
- Eric DuhatschekEric DuhatschekEric Duhatschek is a distinguished Canadian sports journalist. Duhatschek won the 2001 Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for distinguished ice hockey journalism and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, for which he is also on the selection committee....
, Hockey - Marcus GeeMarcus GeeMarcus Gee is an international affairs columnist for The Globe and Mail, Canada's largest national daily newspaper, which he joined in 1991....
- John IbbitsonJohn IbbitsonJohn Ibbitson is a Canadian writer and journalist. He is currently Ottawa Bureau Chief for The Globe and Mail...
- Brent Jang, Business Transportation
- Michael KestertonMichael KestertonMichael Kesterton is a columnist with The Globe and Mail. Since 1990, his weekday column, "Social Studies", has been running on the back page of the Life section.- Early life :...
, Social Studies - Liam Lacey
- Roy MacGregorRoy MacGregorRoy MacGregor is a Canadian author of fiction and non-fiction. He grew up in Huntsville, Ontario. His work tends to focus on Canadian topics; Shelagh Rogers has dubbed him the "heir to Peter Gzowski"...
- Gary Mason, British Columbia
- Leah McLarenLeah McLarenLeah McLaren is a Canadian author and newspaper columnist.Born in Peterborough, Ontario, McLaren attended Claude Watson School for the Arts in Toronto. She studied English literature at McGill University in Montreal, and Trent University in Peterborough, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in...
- Adam RadwanskiAdam RadwanskiAdam Radwanski is a Canadian journalist. He is currently The Globe and Mail's Ontario Legislature columnist, based out of Queen's Park, and writes a political blog for that newspaper's website. He was formerly a member of the Globe's Editorial Board...
, Ontario Politics - Elizabeth Renzetti
- Neil ReynoldsNeil Reynolds-Career in Journalism:After working as a journalist at the Sarnia Observer, London Free Press and Toronto Star, Reynolds became editor-in-chief of the Kingston Whig-Standard in 1977....
- Lorne RubensteinLorne RubensteinLorne Rubenstein is a Canadian golf journalist and author. He writes columns for The Globe and Mail and was the first editor of Scoregolf magazine...
, Golf - Doug SaundersDoug SaundersDoug Saunders is a well-known British-Canadian journalist and author, a columnist and reporter for the Globe and Mail, a Canadian national newspaper based in Toronto, Canada...
- David Shoalts, Hockey
- Jeffrey SimpsonJeffrey SimpsonJeffrey Carl Simpson, OC , is a Canadian journalist. He has been The Globe and Mails national affairs columnist for almost three decades...
- Kate TaylorKate Taylor (novelist)Katherine Mary Taylor is a Canadian critic and novelist, a cultural journalist at the Globe and Mail newspaper and author of two novels, Mme Proust and the Kosher Kitchen and A Man in Uniform....
- Margaret WenteMargaret WenteMargaret Wente is a columnist for Canada's largest national daily newspaper, The Globe and Mail and a director of the Energy Probe Research Foundation. She has received the National Newspaper Award for column-writing twice....
- Hugh WinsorHugh WinsorHugh Fraser Winsor, is a Canadian journalist, noted for his work with The Globe and Mail and CBC Television's The Journal...
- Konrad Yakabuski
Web columnists
- Rick Anderson
- Douglas Bell
- Norman SpectorNorman SpectorNorman Spector is a Canadian journalist, diplomat, civil servant, and newspaper publisher.- Early life and career :Born in Montreal, Quebec, Spector received a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Political Science, from McGill University in 1970...
- Andrew SteeleAndrew Steele (politician)Andrew Steele is a Canadian strategy consultant.He is currently Senior Consultant at Strategy Corp., a strategy company specializing in management consulting and public affairs in Toronto and Ottawa....
- Karl MooreKarl Moore (academic)Karl Moore is an Associate Professor at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He holds a joint appointment in the Department of Strategy and Organization at the Desautels Faculty of Management and the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill's Faculty of Medicine.He is also the Co-Director...
- Dwayne Winseck