Volume 7, Issue No. 51
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . .
Our latest as of Friday, May 29, 2026
~ A visit to Toronto Star, Canada's largest newspaper, was a kind of throwback to the recent past, rekindling memories of old-fashioned newspaper publishing. Last week, something uncommon happened - an opportunity to talk with the paper's editor-in-chief. The visit had been fruitful if only for that, and for the knowledge gained exploring the paper's cavernous newsroom.
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INCLUDES INTERVIEW WITH THE EDITOR
A Meaningful Visit to
Toronto Star Newsroom
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
TORONTO - Not since I left a well-paying job as a foreign correspondent in the mid-1990s and moved to the United States had I set foot again in the newsroom of a mainstream newspaper as this one at Toronto Star on Saturday, May 23.
That experience was meaningful in many ways for me. I started community journalism in California in my parents' one-car garage my brother had converted into a decent office. There, I wrote my stories, did cut-and-paste on a broadsheet dummy, and brought it over to an out of town printer.
From that refurbished structure emanated three English-language community newspapers I founded, created and edited for years, namely, the broadsheet Diario Veritas, and the tabloids Philippine Village Voice, and The District Times.
The new additions, including the Toronto Star, "highlight spaces and communities central to Toronto’s early beginnings and showcase the city’s evolution," according to the City of Toronto, the event organizer.
As a journalist, it's the Star on 8 Spadina Ave. that I was most interested in. My impulse was to see where and how a topnotch paper gets done daily using digital tools by an army of experienced editors, writers, artists, photographers, and geeks.
The last time I interacted with these kinds of nerdy individuals was in the mid-eighties in Hamburg, Germany where I worked and trained as a foreign correspondent for dpa (Deutsche Presse-Agentur), the German news agency, which was setting up a bureau in Manila in anticipation of a catastrophic turning point in the Philippines.
Years later, I had a short discussion with one of the editors during a social visit in its Berlin bureau. Some of my editorial bosses and colleagues have retired, I was told as I recited their names one by one.
Videos about Berlin:
1. DPA: World News Coverage at its Finest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik0AXXyPXaE
2. Hitler's Bunker in Berlin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYOe0cKgN9Y
3. Berlin's Checkpoint Charlie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGxIkEzeYD8
4. Brandenburg Gate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9EvFeMDY7c
5. Holocaust Memorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXUv6gpBm6o
The Star's cavernous newsroom on the tenth floor of The Well, the 38-story office and residential building, has a commanding view of Lake Ontario and the streets that border it in downtown Toronto.
The newsroom looked very much like dpa's in Hamburg and Berlin. I assume most mainstream papers have the same appearance - a bank of computers on a row of desks, huge television sets nailed on the wall, glass rooms for editorial meetings, a lounge for relaxation, etc.
"It's impressive," I told one of the volunteers who ushered visitors to the work area. Having been accustomed to old-fashioned gadgets such as typewriters, teletype machines, satellite phones and the like, the sight at Toronto Star was transformative.
Indeed, from how I began in California years ago to Toronto now, the difference is almost incomprehensible. My work routine has vastly changed to cope with the digital revolution. These days, I labour for hours writing articles on a desktop computer and two laptops on an L-shaped table within the confines of a bedroom that doubles as a library.
The Star newsroom was a pleasant reminder of the rigorous and glorious days being a foreign correspondent for the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun, and later, for the German news agency.
Those moments are incomparable to the present situation where my reporting is published on social media platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, blogspot, LinkedIn, and Bluesky.
The big surprise of that day's visit was meeting the paper's editor-in-chief, the affable Nicole MacIntyre who, before yielding to a brief interview, gave us the nod to explore and see for ourselves what's in the newsroom.
(Video of the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxw_9hbNLwk).
She was very welcoming; in fact, she spent precious moments to answer questions about the paper, which was remarkable in itself, given that some editors are unapproachable, particularly in dealing with ethnic media.
In talking with Ms. MacIntyre, I felt the respect. I felt treated like an equal despite the discernible accent some of us disdain.
She says: "We care about social justice, we care about democracy, we care about a united Canada, we care about workers, making sure that people get courageous and are treated well . . . the Star has always been a paper that has fought for the underdogs . . ."
The Star's old slogan - "the paper for the people" - finds true meaning in her. (Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved).
