Type Weekly city magazine Owner(s) Torstar Founded 1991 | Format Tabloid Publisher Laas Turnbull Ceased publication 2011 | |
Eye Weekly was a free weekly newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was owned by Torstar, the parent company of the Toronto Star, and was published by their Star Media Group until its final issue on May 5, 2011. The following week, Torstar launched a successor publication, The Grid.
Contents
History
Eye Weekly began publishing on October 10, 1991. The content was first posted online via Usenet in March 1994, and its website launched in October 1994, becoming one of the first publications to put its content online. It had an audited circulation of 120,000 copies, as of a 2005-2007 report. However, total readership began to decline in 2003.
The founding managing editor was offbeat Toronto Star writer William Burrill. Burrill was replaced in 1993 by Bill Reynolds, previously the music editor, while Burrill stayed on as a columnist until returning to the Toronto Star in 1998. In 2002, in the middle of a series of resignations and dismissals, editorial employees were told that they would be taking assignments from the marketing department, at which point editors and writers resigned in protest. Catherine Tunnacliffe was named managing editor, and was later promoted to the position of publisher in 2005; former intern/music editor Stuart Berman was promoted to the senior editor position. However, following the hiring of former Eye Society columnist Alan Vernon to the newly created editorial director position, Tunnacliffe left in 2006 to work for the parent company. In late 2008, Berman moved to the new online editor position to oversee the eyeweekly.com website; former intern/city editor Edward Keenan was promoted to the senior editor position.
In its short time, the publication boasted three distinct logos. Eye Weekly also made a transition from a mostly irreverent alternative newsweekly focused on acerbic commentary and rock and roll, to an emphasis on youthful gay and nightlife subcultures, then a renewed focus on cinema and municipal issues.
While the publication was officially referred to as EYE WEEKLY, logos have displayed names such as eYe WEEKLY, and just plain eye. The publication's final logo was formally displayed as EYE WEEKLY.
Past contributors
Prominent contributors at various points through the newspaper's life included Jason Anderson, Bert Archer, Gregory Boyd Bell, Carolyn Bennett, Denise Benson, Alex Bozikovic, Andrew Braithwaite, William Burrill, Jason Chiu, Andrew Clark, Tyler Clark-Burke, Nicole Cohen, Kevin Connolly, Peter Darbyshire, Gemma Files, Sky Gilbert, Kieran Grant, Kevin Hainey, Bob Hunter, Paul Isaacs, Bruce LaBruce, Edward Keenan, Guy Leshinski, Chandler Levack, Laura Lind, Sarah Liss, Donna Lypchuk, Cindy McGlynn, Gord McLaughlin, Jim Munroe, Dave Morris, C.J. O'Connor, Gord Perks, Bradley Reinhardt, Damian Rogers, Stuart Ross, Sasha, John Sewell, Phoebe Smith, Vern Smith, Kamal Al-Solaylee, Hannah Sung, Marc Weisblott, and Carlyn Zwarenstein.