The rumour mill in recent months has created a depressing possible scenario for the future of the Toronto Sun and its sister tabloids.
The rumours include:
- More layoffs in 2007, possibly another 140 Sun Media staffers across the board;
- The Sun's pressroom will be the main target of the next round of layoffs. (As announced by Quebecor in 2005, a centralized printing plant being built in the Islington area will publish the Toronto Sun, the London Free Press and 24 Hours, trimming pressroom jobs);
- With all of the staff reductions, cutbacks and obsolete presses at 333 King Street East, the building Doug Creighton, Peter Worthington and Don Hunt built in 1975 will be vacated and sold;
- The depleted Toronto Sun staff will move under the same roof as 24 Hours and Canoe staff;
- The Sun and 24 Hours will eventually be merged and published as a free daily newspaper;
- The few remaining Toronto Sun Day Oners will retire or move on to other media ventures;
- The Little Paper That Grew will grow no more;
- Quebecor, a Quebec conglomerate that bought Sun Media on Jan. 7, 1999, will have morphed the Miracle on King Street into a throwaway freebee in less than a decade;
- The fate of sister Suns in Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton? Morphed or axed?
If all of the rumours become fact and that is the destiny of the 35-year-old Toronto Sun, there is a "what went wrong?" book to be written.
The Globe has been published since 1844 (163 years), merging with the Mail (1872) in 1936; The Toronto Star has been around since 1892 (115 years); the Telegram was published from 1876 to 1971 (95 years); The National Post, the pup, made its debut in 1998 (nine years).
Media watchdogs have been saying for years Toronto is unique in having four major daily newspapers with street sales and home delivery. Gamblers were putting their money on the Post being the first casualty and with the Conrad Black debacle, it looked like they might collect. But the Post is hanging in there.
If the Sun becomes a throwaway newspaper, carried on the backs of advertisers, it would remove it from the major daily newspaper league, a big loss for fans of the Sun, circa 1971 through the 1990's.
And it would be a sad day for the Toronto Sun Family.
The rumours include:
- More layoffs in 2007, possibly another 140 Sun Media staffers across the board;
- The Sun's pressroom will be the main target of the next round of layoffs. (As announced by Quebecor in 2005, a centralized printing plant being built in the Islington area will publish the Toronto Sun, the London Free Press and 24 Hours, trimming pressroom jobs);
- With all of the staff reductions, cutbacks and obsolete presses at 333 King Street East, the building Doug Creighton, Peter Worthington and Don Hunt built in 1975 will be vacated and sold;
- The depleted Toronto Sun staff will move under the same roof as 24 Hours and Canoe staff;
- The Sun and 24 Hours will eventually be merged and published as a free daily newspaper;
- The few remaining Toronto Sun Day Oners will retire or move on to other media ventures;
- The Little Paper That Grew will grow no more;
- Quebecor, a Quebec conglomerate that bought Sun Media on Jan. 7, 1999, will have morphed the Miracle on King Street into a throwaway freebee in less than a decade;
- The fate of sister Suns in Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton? Morphed or axed?
If all of the rumours become fact and that is the destiny of the 35-year-old Toronto Sun, there is a "what went wrong?" book to be written.
The Globe has been published since 1844 (163 years), merging with the Mail (1872) in 1936; The Toronto Star has been around since 1892 (115 years); the Telegram was published from 1876 to 1971 (95 years); The National Post, the pup, made its debut in 1998 (nine years).
Media watchdogs have been saying for years Toronto is unique in having four major daily newspapers with street sales and home delivery. Gamblers were putting their money on the Post being the first casualty and with the Conrad Black debacle, it looked like they might collect. But the Post is hanging in there.
If the Sun becomes a throwaway newspaper, carried on the backs of advertisers, it would remove it from the major daily newspaper league, a big loss for fans of the Sun, circa 1971 through the 1990's.
And it would be a sad day for the Toronto Sun Family.
My heart is breaking for you guys over there. I'll be linking my blog to this site shortly, but if you want my take on things, you can read it at hackistan.blogspot.com
ReplyDeletekeep your heads down!