Re Brockville pub

The Brockville Record and Times has a new publisher.

The paper says Liza Nelson, publisher of Sun Media's eastern Ontario-based magazine group, took over as group publisher of the Record and Times and the Gananoque Reporter yesterday.

"My goal for The Recorder and Times is for it to continue to be the most relevant source for local news and information in the market," she said Wednesday.

Brief bio: Grew up in Mississauga, a Queen's University grad, worked at the Newspaper Marketing Bureau in Toronto (now the Canadian Newspaper Association), joined Southam in 1995, later working at the Kingston Whig-Standard, married with four-year-old twins.

All the best, Liza.

The Final Word

The final and somewhat more civil and informative word in the Calgary noodles saga comes from Jose Rodriguez, editor-in-chief of the Calgary Sun:

"Hey guys, just to set the record straight, there is a script that takes the last front page from the system and ships it out to the Newseum. Obviously, since the replate came at the end of the run, the wrong page was picked and sent.

"It was a mistake. I'm sure the anonymous owner of this blog has made some in the past. As soon as we learned about it, we fixed it. As for the integrity of the managing editor — and the entire news team for that matter — it is beyond reproach.

"We have not sold out. We are still breaking stories that the competition can't touch and sharing a laugh or two along the way. This may be hard for you to believe based on the comments I've read on this blog in the past, but we are still damn proud to be part of Team Sun.

"Still working hard to bring relevant news to our readers. Not sitting anonymously on the sideline and sniping in a 'good old days' trance."

Thank you for the update, Jose.

The four key words here: "It was a mistake."

Fair enough.

But your closer - "Not sitting anonymously on the sideline and sniping in a 'good old days' trance." - chilled our enthusiasm for your elaboration. Memories of your managing editor, mother's basement and all . . .

The majority of TSF postings since December 2006 have been based on information provided by disillusioned current and former Sun Media employees who remember the "good old days."

The blog is not about any individual, including the not-so-anonymous blogger, it is about Toronto Sun Family members who wanted a forum to vent their feelings and frustrations about the Quebecor years.

When the venting is done and Quebecor's extreme makeover is complete, we will be done.

We will leave our mother's basement confident that TSF members did their all in memory of Doug Creighton and the other 61 Day Oners who gave us all the opportunity to share in North America's greatest print media success story.

Calgary noodles 3

Just a Q&A FYI from the pages of Newseum.org re the daily Today's Front Pages process:

"Every morning, as many as 800 newspapers from around the world submit their front pages to the Newseum via the Internet to be part of Today's Front Pages."

And ...

"All daily, general-interest newspapers are invited to participate. The front pages in our display are sent voluntarily from each newspaper."

PKP in Niagara?

TSF tipsters say PKP will be touring Sun Media holdings in Niagara Region on Monday.

The Sun Media chief will no doubt have attentive, captive audiences.

But what will his message be?

Somewhat nervous TSF tipsters will be on call for updates if he does visit.

Welland -1

The Welland Tribune lost another employee this week.

A TSF tipster says Stephen Carroll, the ad manager, was let go Monday.

"Publisher Ken Koyama has taken over as ad manager on an interim basis," says the tipster.

Remaining staff at the former Osprey newspaper must be feeling like punching bags.

It has not been a good year for the Tribune.

Its presses were silenced recently, with printing going to the Toronto plant;

Its sponsorship of boys and girls basketball tournaments has been axed;

Its Port Colborne office has been reduced to a satellite office;

Eight employees were pink slipped in December;

They lost their second-floor newsroom water cooler, temporarily.

Woodstock class

Kudos to Darryl Smart, a Woodstock Sentinel-Review staffer who has jazzed up his Twitter page with a WSR logo and banner.

His bio reads: "I'm the Bo Jackson of the Woodstock Sentinel-Review. Real title Night News Editor/ Sports Editor but I do a little photography, writing and page layout."

Doing it all for Sun Media's WSR - and more, with Twitter.

One rim for all

A TSF reader who brought two new Sun Media job ads for Brockville to our attention says:

"Looks like the One Rim Fits All is coming soon."

Brockville, Ontario, appears to be the latest Centre of Excellence in the province.

The first job posting reads:

Page Builders

Sun Media Corporate Editorial is seeking page builders to paginate pages for the chain's community daily and weekly newspapers.

Reporting to Sun Media's East Region Pagination Co-ordinator(s), these layout editors will design broadsheet and tabloid pages including news, entertainment and sports. Graphics work will also be required. Experience in the publishing industry an asset. This position involves working afternoons and evenings, as well as some weekends. The location will be in Brockville, Ontario. Applicants should be prepared to start their first shift in August 5, 2009.

Qualifications include:
Strong design and graphics skills
Proficient knowledge of InDesign CS and/or QuarkXPress, InCopy and Photoshop

Interested applicants should send their resumes by Wednesday, July 22, 2009 (see below)

The second job posting reads:

East Region Pagination Centre Co-ordinator

Sun Media Corporate Editorial is seeking two page co-ordinators to oversee pagination for the chain's east region community daily and community weekly newspapers. Reporting to Sun Media's Regional Managing Editor, the co-ordinators will oversee the building of local and regional pages for daily and weekly newspapers. The co-ordinators will also work with region's newspapers to create regional shared pages. Managing a staff of page designers, this person(s) will also design pages and must have the ability to edit stories and rewrite headlines if required. Some Photoshop skills may also be required. Experience working at a daily newspaper would be an asset. This position involves working days, evenings, as well as some weekends. The location will be in Brockville, Ontario.

Qualifications include:
A journalism degree or diploma
Strong layout and design skills
A strong knowledge of InDesign CS or QuarkXPress, and Photoshop

Interested applicants should send their resumes by Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Resumes for both job postings to the attention of Angela Zito, Supervisor, Human Resources, Sun Media Corporation, 333 King Street East, Toronto, Ontario M5A 3X5. E-mail: careers@sunmedia.ca

TorSun/24 remake

The Toronto Sun, which hasn't fully recovered from a revamping a few years ago, is being redesigned once again.

A memo forwarded to TSF says the redesigned Toronto Sun and 24 Hours will be introduced to readers on July 28.

The Sun will be smaller and you have to wonder if that means the same size as 24 Hours to provide easy exchanges of ads.

Is it the beginning of the long-rumoured merging of the paid and free newspapers? Stay tuned.

The memo from Louisa Karabellas, account manager, Toronto SUN/24hrs, Torontosun.com:

"Hi all! Just wanted to give you a heads up and let you know that we are doing a REDESIGN of our Toronto SUN and 24hrs newspapers. The re-launch/redesign is set to take effect July 28th!

"You will see a brand new, more convenient look to both our papers. As a result, the specs to your ads will be changing. I will let you know the exact specs so we can create the proper ad sizes within the next few weeks! If you have any questions, just let me know! Thanks, Louisa

"On Tuesday, July 28th the new paper size will be ten (10) columns x 160 lines

* Following a thorough readership study, readers expressed significant interest in our proposed changes

* Readers identified an even greater level of engagement with the paper as a result

* Ease and consistency of product navigation is the cornerstone of the product experience improvement plans

* We continually strive to provide a refreshed and visually exciting experience ­ providing our readers with a relevant and relaxing navigational experience ­ allowing them to engage with the content and advertising messages.

* Key Design elements will include:

Sectional Navigation

Sub-Section design and treatment

Columnist & Editorial profiling

Reinforcing our authoritative voice on content important to readers

Navigation simplification

Enhanced visual experience ­ from graphics and charts to fonts and colour

Our Readers Want It. Our Advertising Partners Will Benefit From It. And We Always Deliver!"

Calgary noodles 2

Was the Calgary Sun's front page Chinese food ad on Newseum the Washington, D.C., media museum's fault?

TSF received this comment from Martin Hudson, managing editor of the paper:

"If you ever left your mother's basement and got a job instead of blindly ripping everything you know nothing about, you would be aware that newspapers sometimes print promo copies at the end of the run. This front was picked up in error by Newseum. Check your facts before you run your mouth.

Martin Hudson

Managing Editor"

It is a huge relief to hear the Calgary Sun has not sold out its front page (full wrap, or no wrap) to promote the sale of egg rolls and noodles.

But how can you lay the blame on Newseum when editors submit their front pages to the museum?

As for the snide comments about mothers, basements and running our mouths, we are not impressed when they are coming from the managing editor of a major daily newspaper.

MJ is dead?

Do you realize there must be people living in remote areas who haven't heard Michael Jackson has died?

That is not to blame world print, broadcast and Internet media for lack of trying in their bid to reach each and every inhabitant of this great planet of ours with the sad news.

We're just saying they might have missed small pockets of people in their marathon coverage of his death 12 days ago. Isolated islands. Remote mountain villages. Amazon jungle tribes.

But don't fret for the uninformed. With much more to come from the family, the fans and the courts, chances are word of MJ's death will eventually get to everyone.

Meanwhile, we've got some MJ 8-tracks for sale.