Wednesday, May 20th was not a slow news day. That day, the missing person case of Victoria Stafford became a homicide investigation. But alas, newspaper editors had to find their stories the day prior, so on that day the front page of The Toronto Star led with the headline “The Incredible Shrinking Man.” [i] the story had actually been about an incredibly shrinking man, it might have warranted the great big font. But the story was only about Toronto mayor David Miller having dropped 50lbs and—shockingly—still being recognizable to 16 out of 20 people
Let me first just address this “still recognizable” thing. No one at a height of 6’3” becomes unrecognizable for dropping 50lbs. I’m 5’5” and I wouldn’t become unrecognizable if I dropped 50lbs. I’m pretty sure people that knew me 50lbs ago are still finding it pretty easy to pick me out in a crowd. I’m going to venture a guess that anyone who found it that difficult to identify the man after his weight loss probably didn’t vote in our last municipal election—for shame!
I’d also love to know who in the hell ran this survey. Who bothered to ask this question? Were there people running in the streets when Miller’s first “after” shot hit the internet asking “who is that and what has he done with my mayor?!” The whole idea of surveying people sounds a bit desperate. I’m all for the printed word, but if this is what journalists are coming up with, the death knell for newspapers just got a little louder.
The comments on the article were an interesting mix. Most of the posters simply voiced frustration with Miller as a mayor. Some of his detractors found ways to use the weight loss as a mildly funny means to get their point across about the job he’s doing (i.e. “maybe he’ll shrink into nothing and The City of Toronto will have shed 230 pounds of distruction [sic];” “must be all that hot air he expels”). And then there were the (sadly) expected digs at fat people in general because the issue of weight has been brought up at all. One poster suggested that there must be a lot of fat people posting since people were actually angry about the article. Another poster urged the rest of us “tubbies” to follow Miller’s lead.
When I finished raging over the “fat attacks,” there were two comments that stuck out for me. One echoed the first question that popped into my head when I saw the article—“slow news day?” The other rounded out what I was thinking by calling this “Paris Hilton journalism.” Well said.
I think it’s abhorrent that the weight of every celebrity is continuously monitored by the media. Unless one’s profession is an athletic one, no one’s weight should be worthy of mention. But I still expect, and frankly accept, that I’m going to see this sort of thing on the covers of People, US and any other magazine meant for mass consumption by, primarily, women. I wouldn’t even really be surprised if I saw something like this on the cover of a more tabloid-like daily like The Toronto Sun. But I always thought of The Toronto Star as a somewhat respectable paper. Perhaps not the most committed to hard journalism but still a reasonable read. And then they pull a front page like this.
I’m pretty sure there were still people dying in Darfur on May 19 before the paper went to print. There was probably something pertinent to say about the conflicts in Afghanistan or Iraq on May 19. Now some people feel that the future of newspaper is in keeping it local. Fine, let’s keep it local. Weren’t there still some pretty important talks going on between GM and the CAW on the evening of on May 19? Well, I have to admit, that story did make the news, but obviously it wasn’t front page worthy. But David Miller’s shrinking waist line and continued familiarity to the masses (sort of) apparently was.
In 2008, The Toronto Star was still the most read paper in the CMA (census metropolitan area) of Toronto with a total weekly readership of 49%[ii]. While I’m not in agreement with all of the comment posters, it does represent a segment of people actually questioning the relevance of the news they’re reading. I wonder though, how big is that segment? If even half of that 49% don’t question the fact that someone’s weight loss is front page news in a city like Toronto, that’s troubling to me. It’s troubling to me that there is conceivably this great number of people who think that David Miller’s morning runs, bagged lunches, Quarter Pounder with cheese boycott and subsequent weight loss is actually news.
Maybe I’m being censorial about this. Maybe all news is created equal, but I can’t say I believe that. I just don’t agree with semi-respectable newspapers implying that someone’s last weigh-in should be given the same space as wars, elections and economic melt-downs. I’m not okay with the implication that we should be monitoring David Miller’s weight loss as an electorate, rather than his policies. And I’m not okay with the increasing number of editors who feed the misconception that weight loss is something to congratulate people about, like they’ve just done something to secure world peace. Ultimately, I’m not okay with the idea that we should be worried about anyone’s weight except our own.
The “after” shot of David Miller was taken at a cities environment summit in Korea and while news of what was actually discussed at the summit did make into The Toronto Star the next day, I fail to understand why they felt the need to lead the day prior with a “wow, the mayor looks great” article. And if they just had to do the “wow, the mayor looks great” article could they not have buried it on page E4?
I’d love to hear what you think. Is weight loss news? Should it be news? Am I too sensitive to this because of my weight? While I love your e-mails, you can comment anonymously on the blog and then everyone can have the benefit of your thoughts which, I think, you’d all enjoy. So, over to you.
[i]The online version of the story was entitled “The Skinny on Mayor Miller’s weight loss.”
[ii]2008 NADbank Readership Study – check it out at http://www.cna-acj.ca/en/system/files/Press%20Release%200708%20NADbank%20Study.pdf
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