The Toronto Star media bias and reliability
The rating organisations do not give The Toronto Star one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are AllSides: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. We have seen it on 658 published stories of ours.
The short answers
Is The Toronto Star biased?
The rating organisations do not give The Toronto Star one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are AllSides: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. An outlet rating describes a broad pattern in its output, not every article it publishes.
Is The Toronto Star left or right?
The rating organisations do not give The Toronto Star one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are AllSides: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. In the three-way grouping used on story pages, that puts it under Left.
Is The Toronto Star reliable?
The factual-reliability assessments we hold for The Toronto Star are Media Bias/Fact Check: High factuality. These are outlet-level assessments, not a guarantee that every report is correct.
What The Toronto Star has been covering
Our account of each story, written from every outlet that ran it, with The Toronto Star’s own report linked underneath.
The removal of the last dam on Maine's Narraguagus River has created prime habitat for endangered Atlantic salmon. However, conservationists caution that climate change presents significant challenges to the species' long-term comeback.
The Toronto Star reported it asEndangered salmon may soon swim freely up a Maine river, but a comeback isn’t guaranteed (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
Canadian Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu is visiting Mumbai from September 18-19 to advance trade talks with India. The visit focuses on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and aims to significantly increase bilateral trade.
The Toronto Star reported it asInternational trade minister heading to India, Philippines for talks (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to address the European Parliament. This follows a proposal by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for Canada to become the EU's first associate member, a move US President Donald Trump has criticised.
The Toronto Star reported it asRead Mark Carney’s speech to the EU as Canada welcomes stronger ties: ‘Our societies are being shaken by new storms’ (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
Russia launched missile and drone attacks across Ukraine, injuring at least 19 people, including children. Ukrainian forces responded with overnight strikes targeting an oil refinery in Yaroslavl and a military airfield in Rostov.
The Toronto Star reported it asRussian attack on Ukraine’s capital injures at least 16 (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
Russian airstrikes hit Kyiv and Odesa, injuring at least 13 people and damaging buildings including residential structures, warehouses, and a gas station. A child was among those wounded in Odesa.
The Toronto Star reported it asRussian attack on Ukraine’s capital injures at least 16 (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver a televised address to the nation on September 16 at 6 p.m. Moscow time. The speech is in anticipation of the upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled to take place from September 18 to 20. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced the president's speech.
The Toronto Star reported it asRussia’s parliamentary vote features no real opposition to Putin’s policies (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has stated the United States is open to discussing shared risks with China in upcoming AI talks scheduled for this weekend. The discussions aim to prevent the bifurcation of AI systems between the two countries.
The Toronto Star reported it asA global AI safety strategy depends on US-China cooperation. They each see the other as the problem (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong Blocks Warrantless Immigration Arrests in Southern California
Trust 42U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong has blocked immigration officers from making warrantless arrests in Southern California unless they determine a person is likely to escape. The order applies to the Central District of California and follows a lawsuit by immigrant advocacy groups.
The Toronto Star reported it asFederal judge restricts warrantless immigration arrests in Southern California (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a presidential memorandum to identify and remove Canadian-origin goods from U.S. federal civil government procurement. The move escalates an ongoing trade dispute between the two countries.
The Toronto Star reported it asTrump signs order to ban Canadian goods from U.S. government procurement (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs or halt trade with the European Union if Canada is granted associate membership. He described the prospect as 'laughable' and a 'hostile act', while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed a desire for Canada to be the bloc's first associate member.
The Toronto Star reported it asTrump suggests EU allowing Canada as associate member could be a ‘hostile act’ (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
House Speaker Mike Johnson has sent representatives home early for their pre-election recess. This move postpones a vote on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which had been initiated by Rep. Thomas Massie over Hegseth's actions in Iran and Venezuela.
The Toronto Star reported it asSpeaker Johnson recesses the House early as Rep. Thomas Massie pushes Hegseth impeachment (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that rapidly advancing artificial intelligence poses significant risks that require global coordination and stronger oversight. This comes as public alarm about AI's potential dangers grows, while former US President Donald Trump maintains existing safeguards are sufficient.
The Toronto Star reported it asUN chief urges global AI cooperation saying world can’t afford ‘a race to the bottom on AI safety’ (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
An Argentine judge has ordered companies to cease oilfield development near the Falkland Islands, escalating a long-standing sovereignty dispute with the UK. The ruling mandates a halt to drilling pending an environmental review, while Argentina also prepares new legal complaints and tougher sanctions.
The Toronto Star reported it asArgentine judge orders halt to Falklands oil project as tensions with Britain rise (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
Leake County schools in Mississippi have been released from a federal desegregation order that had been in place for over 50 years. A judge approved the dissolution of the order on September 3, ending federal monitoring of the district.
The Toronto Star reported it asLeake County schools in Mississippi released from decades-long desegregation order (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
A super PAC linked to Donald Trump, No Going Back PAC, has reported spending approximately $21 million on independent expenditures in competitive Senate and House races. The largest Senate expenditures targeted Democratic candidates.
The Toronto Star reported it asTrump-aligned groups are pouring money into the midterm races (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
British Columbia Premier David Eby has instructed his legislators to be prepared for an upcoming election, citing disruption from the trade war with the United States. He has appointed Cheryl Oates to manage the party's campaign.
The Toronto Star reported it asEby says NDP needs to be ‘election ready’ in B.C., but offers no date (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that could allow President Donald Trump to impose up to 100% tariffs on countries buying Russian oil. India's Ministry of External Affairs stated the nation will take necessary steps to protect its trade and economic interests.
The Toronto Star reported it asHouse nears vote on Russia sanctions bill named after late Sen. Lindsey Graham (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
As Chinese President Xi Jinping prepares to visit the United States, families and advocates have made public appeals for the release of detained US scholar Min Zin and Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai. The pleas were made during congressional hearings in Washington.
The Toronto Star reported it asJimmy Lai’s son pleads in Washington for his father’s release ahead of Xi’s US visit (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
The Immigration Department has declined to state whether a refugee permanent resident sponsorship policy was misused before its expiration last week. Ottawa cited "potential integrity concerns" as the reason for ending the policy, which allowed refugees to sponsor family members not on their initial application.
The Toronto Star reported it asOttawa won’t say if people misused a now-defunct refugee residency sponsorship policy (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
President Donald Trump has accused Canada of not doing enough to stop drug trafficking, alleging that fentanyl is produced in clandestine Canadian labs. However, he did not include Canada on a list of major drug-producing countries submitted to Congress.
The Toronto Star reported it asTrump criticizes Canada over drugs but leaves it off list of drug-producing countries (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
Who says so
2 organisations have published a rating for this outlet, in their own words. Where they disagree, the disagreement is the useful part and it is left standing.
How reliably it reports fact
A rating of the newsroom in general, by others, and a different thing from the Trust score we publish on each story, which judges one piece of reporting.
High factuality
- Media Bias/Fact CheckhighCheck it
Who owns it
- TorstarPrivate Equitydirect owner
Where it publishes from
- Publishes from
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Canada
- Official site
- thestar.com
- Seen publishing on
- thestar.com, metronews.ca
- Access
- Paywalled
- Wikipedia
- Entry
What we have seen ourselves
Counted across the stories this site has published, which is the only denominator a reader can check: every one of them has a page, and every page lists the reports it was written from.
- Stories
- 658
- Reports listed
- 696
- We could read
- 0
- First seen
- 3 August 2026
696 of those reports were paywalled or blocked to us. Our reading of this outlet is built on the 0 we could open, not on everything it published.
On 92 of those stories, outlets rated left were largely absent from the coverage and The Toronto Star ran the story anyway.
Across the 658 stories of ours where at least three of the reports we listed carried a time, we logged no report earlier than The Toronto Star’s on 25 of them. Overall it filed a median of 10 hours after the earliest report we logged.
Measured 18 September 2026. Last seen in a coverage list 18 September 2026. Ratings pulled 3 September 2026.
Other outlets rated the same way
Publishers carrying the same published leaning as The Toronto Star, also publishing from Canada, ordered by how often we have seen them on a story. Sharing a rating is not the same as being alike.
Think this page is wrong?
The leanings above are published by AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check, and we republish them rather than make them. If you think one is misapplied, the strongest place to say so is with the organisation that made it, and every verdict here links to their page.
What we are responsible for is everything else: the ownership chain, where The Toronto Star publishes from, which of our stories we have listed it on, and whether we have the right publisher at all. Tell us what is wrong and an editor reads it.
Report something wrong on this page
Anything we correct is written up in the public corrections log. We do not publish reader votes as a rating, because an unattributed rating is the thing this site exists to argue against.
Every rating on this page is a named third party’s published work, republished with its author and, where one exists, a link to it. Our own coverage record is the section we measure ourselves. Neither is a judgement of any individual report: those are scored story by story, and the reasoning is on our methodology page.