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Rob Ford Rant Video: Toronto Star Keeps Quiet On How Much It Paid

How Much Did The Star Pay?

The Toronto Star is keeping quiet about how much it paid for a now infamous video of an inebriated Toronto Mayor Rob Ford ranting angrily.

The newspaper has reported it purchased the clip on Wednesday and posted the video on its website and YouTube Thursday.

UPDATE: The Star has confirmed it purchased the video for $5,000 from a source who recorded the clip from someone else's computer.

Editor Michael Cooke said "huge public interest" motivated the newspaper to make the deal.

Star reporter Kevin Donovan told Poynter in an email Thursday that the paper won't share exactly how much it paid.

"We are not disclosing the amount but it is not a lot and it is consistent with what media organizations pay for photo and video images," he said.

HuffPost Canada has put a call into the paper, but has not yet heard back.

Steve Ladurantaye, media reporter for The Globe and Mail, posted on Twitter that sources said The Star paid $5,000 for the video, but the paper wouldn't confirm.

That same figure was mentioned in a Globe story on Thursday afternoon.

The Toronto Sun posted a brief clip of the Ford video on Thursday morning. The Sun reports an anonymous person sent the paper two short clips and was "negotiating to sell the video to another media outlet for $3,000 to $5,000."

Star editor-in-chief Michael Cooke told CP24's Stephen LeDrew it cost the paper what the TV host might spend for a good dinner.

The Star reported in May that it declined to pay for a video allegedly showing Ford smoking crack cocaine.

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