An e-mail from veteran Toronto Sun staffer Wayne Janes:
"I feel I have to comment on Sean McCann's 'Why are you still hanging on at the Sun?' email.
I can't speak for anyone else (though Sean seems to feel he can speak for people who signed on), but the most obvious reason is that it's a paycheque, and a pretty decent one, too.
And the job is still a good job (ask anyone who's ever had a shitty job). And the people are still great. And thoughtful. And dedicated. And bloody hardworking.
Maybe it's just me, but I get damn tired of the "old Sun" talk on this blog. The current Sun is no paradise, but then the "old Sun" was no paradise either. Yes, there were great perqs and some good times, but there were also huge pay inequities, favouritism, being forced to run stuff that was downright embarrassing and to pull stuff that was righteous, etc. No newspaper, according to what I read, is what it used to be. The business — and it is, and always was, a business - isn't what it used to be.
(I remember when I had hair — so what?)
You mention the Strobels and the Bonokoskis. There's also the Tilleys and the Harrises, the Sloteks and Simmonses, Songs and Greens, and now the Williamsons and the Schmeichels, and on and on. In a cage match, I'd bet on half our current writers against a full complement of any other paper's on work ethic alone, not to mention talent.
Anybody with any depth has a life before, during and after the Sun. And no disrespect intended, but the late David Bailey's quote is a bit ironic, don't you think?"
Wayne Janes
Thank you for your e-mail, Wayne.
"I feel I have to comment on Sean McCann's 'Why are you still hanging on at the Sun?' email.
I can't speak for anyone else (though Sean seems to feel he can speak for people who signed on), but the most obvious reason is that it's a paycheque, and a pretty decent one, too.
And the job is still a good job (ask anyone who's ever had a shitty job). And the people are still great. And thoughtful. And dedicated. And bloody hardworking.
Maybe it's just me, but I get damn tired of the "old Sun" talk on this blog. The current Sun is no paradise, but then the "old Sun" was no paradise either. Yes, there were great perqs and some good times, but there were also huge pay inequities, favouritism, being forced to run stuff that was downright embarrassing and to pull stuff that was righteous, etc. No newspaper, according to what I read, is what it used to be. The business — and it is, and always was, a business - isn't what it used to be.
(I remember when I had hair — so what?)
You mention the Strobels and the Bonokoskis. There's also the Tilleys and the Harrises, the Sloteks and Simmonses, Songs and Greens, and now the Williamsons and the Schmeichels, and on and on. In a cage match, I'd bet on half our current writers against a full complement of any other paper's on work ethic alone, not to mention talent.
Anybody with any depth has a life before, during and after the Sun. And no disrespect intended, but the late David Bailey's quote is a bit ironic, don't you think?"
Wayne Janes
Thank you for your e-mail, Wayne.
I have to agree with Wayne (and not just because he mentioned me flatteringly). I am a regular reader of this blog and it has interesting, thoughtful stuff about the media. But sometimes, as with the Sean McCann bit, it's like listening to Tokyo Rose - "Give up, G.I. Why do you still fight? Your cause is lost, and while you waste your effort, your wives are at home, sleeping with Pierre-Karl Peladeau!"
ReplyDeleteJim Slotek