''The Eyeopener'' is one of two weekly student newspapers at

Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public university, public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Garden District, although i ...

. It has a circulation of 10,000 copies per week during the school year. ''The Eyeopener'' is published by Rye Eye Publishing Inc., owned by the students of Toronto Metropolitan University as a non-profit corporation. Most of the writing is done by contributors (as is the case with most campus newspapers) but the paper's masthead is elected towards the end of each academic year, by the previous year's masthead and volunteers who have made a certain number of contributions. As of 2008, the minimum number of contributions to be eligible to vote is six. While contributors and

editors Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, or ...

are often students of the TMU School of Journalism, students in other programs are more than welcome to write for the paper. The paper is composed of several main sections; news, arts and culture, business and technology, sports, features, community, video,

editorial An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, suc ...

and a 'fun' page.

History

Early days

''The Eyeopener'' was started at what was then the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute on September 26, 1967, by Tom Thorne, a

Radio and Television Arts The RTA School of Media is a school within the Faculty of Communication and Design at Toronto Metropolitan University located in the Rogers Communications Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It offers two Bachelor of Arts (Media Production and Sport M ...

student upset with the amount of editorial powers held by faculty members at ''

The Ryersonian ''On The Record'' (formerly ''The Ryersonian'') is the masthead news title produced by journalism students at Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto, Canada. Students produce daily news for the publication's website, live-blog local events rel ...

,'' now named ''On the Record''. He took the name from a muck-raking turn-of-the-century weekly published in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. The other campus newspaper at Toronto Metropolitan University is '' On the Record'', published by the university's Faculty of Journalism with a circulation of approximately 5,000 copies a week. ''The Eyeopener'' upped its circulation to 10,000 issues per week from 8,000 per week at the start of the 2007-2008 academic year. In 2019, student newspapers and student councils at post-secondary institutions in Ontario faced the threat of significant losses of student fees after the provincial government led by Doug Ford introduced its Student Choice Initiative, which would have made some student association fees optional. The measure was struck down by a court.

The COVID-19 Pandemic

Student media, like Toronto Metropolitan University itself, went online during the lockdowns imposed during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

. After most people had been vaccinated, the paper reported on the university's new ventilation systems that were intended to mitigate the risk of infection. Early in 2021, a former staffer claimed that he had been fired from the paper because he was Catholic.

Notable alumni

Christie Blatchford Christie Marie Blatchford (May 20, 1951 – February 12, 2020) was a Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster. She published four non-fiction books. Blatchford was Canada's first female sports columnist, reporting on sports betwe ...

Mark Bonokoski Mark Bonokoski, is a Canadian conservative newspaper columnist and commentator. In November 2017, he was inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame. He has been an authoritative and in-depth journalist who has covered topics ranging from civil ...

Mark Bourrie Mark Bourrie (born 1959 or 1960) is a Canadian journalist and author. He has worked as a contract lecturer at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. In 2020, his biography of Pierre-Esprit Radisson, ''Bushrunner: The Adventures of Pi ...

Dianne Buckner } Dianne Buckner is a former Canadian television journalist, best known as a host of business-oriented programming, such as ''Venture'' and ''Dragons' Den'', on CBC Television and CBC News Network. Buckner has also been a guest anchor on CBC ne ...

Graeme Smith Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa in all formats. In 2003, he was appointed captain of the national team, taking over from Shaun Pollock. He held th ...

Kirk LaPointe Kirk LaPointe (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian journalist. Early life LaPointe was born in Toronto, where he was raised by a single mother in what he describes as poverty conditions. He was educated at New Toronto Secondary School and Ryer ...

Steve McAllister Steve McAllister is a long-time Canadian sports media and communications expert. He currently is the Editor-In-Chief of The Parleh, a weekly newsletter on sports betting owned by Parleh Media Group Inc., and writes a weekly column on sports betting ...

* Jordan Heath-Rawlings * Kirk Makin * Bob McKenzie *

Wendy Mesley Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...

* Jonathan Fowlie *

Michael Friscolanti Michael Friscolanti is a senior writer with ''Maclean's'' magazine, and the author of the book ''Friendly Fire: The Untold Story of the U.S. Bombing that Killed Four Canadian Soldiers in Afghanistan''. Previously he was a reporter for the ''National ...

Robyn Doolittle Robyn Doolittle (born 13 September 1984) is a Canadian investigative reporter for ''The Globe and Mail''. At the ''Toronto Star'', she gained notoriety for coverage of Toronto mayor Rob Ford's political and personal life, which led to her autho ...

References

External links