Inside the Sun

Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging, Glenn Garnett. We are looking forward to reading your new Inside the Sun blog, which makes its debut tonight.

As the new editor-in-chief, a blog is a grand opportunity for you to discuss the Toronto Sun and the dedicated employees working on all six floors of 333 King St. E.

So what can Toronto Sun readers and employees expect from your new blog?

Will you be speaking candidly about the tabloid, a freedom enjoyed during the glory days when Doug Creighton was at the helm? Those were the days when columnists were allowed to criticize other columnists, editors and management.

As a 26-year Sun vet who shone during your syndicate promotion years in Canada Wide, you must remember when the tabloid was an open book, with no holds barred.

Can Sun readers who felt connected to the Sun of old count on a return to open discussion about the tabloid they love?

Or will your blog postings be little more than a series of sanitized, don't-rock-the-boat puff pieces mouthed on behalf of Quebecor's HQ?

More spin? We hope not. Employees and a lot of readers are no longer buying the all-is-sunny-at-the-Sun rhetoric. It is time for some frank, fireside chats emanating from 333 King Street East.

Toronto Sun readers in large numbers are obviously disillusioned with the Sun's new direction and morale in the bare bones newsroom is running on empty.

Hopefully, your blog will help resuscitate the communication developed between readers and the Sun during Alison Downie's stint as the Readership Editor.

Speaking of Alison Downie, maybe you could explain to your blog readers why Alison and her Readership Editor position suddenly vanished last fall.

That would be a good start.

The TSF's Top Ten other recommended topics for your blog to help restore faith in the tabloid:

1 - How can the Toronto Sun provide the local and regional news coverage readers deserve when the newsroom has been decimated by firings, layoffs, buyouts and resignations?

2 - What are the weekday, Saturday and Sunday Sun's 2007 PMB readership figures? The Sun of old experienced downturns in the 1980s and early 1990s - and talked openly about losses.

3 - If the Sun PMB losses were about 33% daily, 47% Saturdays and 14% Sundays as noted by a tipster, will Quebecor's current course be altered to counter the rapid decline?

4 - As editor-in-chief, what is your opinion of a new University of Missouri journalism study that shows healthy, adequately-staffed newsrooms boost newspaper profits?

5 - Why has the Sun stopped giving departing veteran staffers proper sendoffs in print after they have devoted decades to the growth and success of the paper?

6 - What exactly is Quebecor's game plan for the Toronto Sun and do you think a change in Quebecor's strategy is needed in light of the exodus of staff, morale and readers?

7 - When Quebecor's new printing plant opens next fall and the presses and pressroom jobs at 333 King Street East become obsolete, will the building be sold?

8 - Will the multi-product printing demands at Quebecor's new printing plant affect the deadlines and content of the Toronto Sun?

9 - Do you think Toronto's once feisty and unpredictable tabloid, launched by 62 former Tely staffers on Nov. 1, 1971, will be around to celebrate its 40th anniversary as the Sun?

10 - As editor-in-chief, would you endorse a Quebecor move to morph the Sun and 24 Hours into a free computer newspaper?

Again welcome to blogging, Glenn. Keep the freedom of speech enjoyed at the old Sun in mind when at the keyboard. It is a freedom journalists should never surrender.

P.S. That is quite a list of blog comment posting rules.