The Globe and Mail's Jennifer MacMillan has the scoop on backers of t.o.night, the new free afternoon daily to be launched Sept. 8.
And it's bad news for laid off Toronto Sun reporters who want to know if they are hiring.
MacMillan's story in today's Globe says:
It is the brainchild of John Cameron, 24, a business school grad;
Cameron and two friends, Gareth Smith and Tom Hyde, are majority owners;
The paper will have a staff of 20, but no reporters, just CP and AP;
It will be about 20 pages and glossy;
St. Joseph Print will print the paper (or should that be magazine?)
No word if any of the bodies at t.o.night will be former Toronto Sun employees, but the Globe says private investors include Richard Costley-White, owner of Blackburn Radio Inc.
Costley-White's family owned the London Free Press before it was sold to Sun Media in 1997.
And it's bad news for laid off Toronto Sun reporters who want to know if they are hiring.
MacMillan's story in today's Globe says:
It is the brainchild of John Cameron, 24, a business school grad;
Cameron and two friends, Gareth Smith and Tom Hyde, are majority owners;
The paper will have a staff of 20, but no reporters, just CP and AP;
It will be about 20 pages and glossy;
St. Joseph Print will print the paper (or should that be magazine?)
No word if any of the bodies at t.o.night will be former Toronto Sun employees, but the Globe says private investors include Richard Costley-White, owner of Blackburn Radio Inc.
Costley-White's family owned the London Free Press before it was sold to Sun Media in 1997.
I certainly don't wish them any ill, but it sure seems like a risky venture. All this sounds like is wire copy printed on fancier paper than newsprint and given away for free (plus some local arts and entertainment articles). Don't know what CP is charging for copy these days, but if they're buying into the CP photo service, too, they're going to have to get some pretty good ads in there to pay for the CP stuff, the overhead and the paper. Oh well, good luck to them. The more, the merrier.
ReplyDeleteIt works in London, England. I believe they have TWO free nightlies - but then England always had nightly papers.
ReplyDelete