London Ex -3

One day you are writing Point of View editorials for Sun Media newspapers across the chain and the next day you are the latest pink slip casualty.

Wayne Newton, a Sun Media employee for 19 years, and two other staffers at the Centre of Excellence in London, were terminated Tuesday, says a TSF tipster.

It seems London's COE, once thought to be a refuge from the carnage in the newspaper chain, is returning to graphics production only, where it started three years ago.

There will be fewer employees and no journalists in the building. The tabloid and broadsheet page pagination work that was being handled in London is being shifted to Barrie.

So the London Centre of Excellence, which was producing tabloid and broadsheet pages, including most national lifestyles pages, Fanfare and special weekend spreads for national sports, business and national bureau pages from Ottawa. has been demoted to Graphics Centre.

We noticed Newton's POV in the Sun on Monday. The next day, the national co-ordinator, national comment copy editor and POV contributor, was gone.

A voice gone from the signed editorial side of the Comment page.

You have to wonder how Sun editorial page vets like Rob Granatstein, Lorrie Goldstein, Paul Berton, Eric Margolis and others react to losses of veteran colleagues.

Do they ever ask themselves "when will it end?"

We are dizzy from Sun Media turbulence.

Most extreme makeovers have a cohesive game plan, but we're sitting here on the sidelines wondering how all of this playing with careers and lives is going to end.

If you can paint us a picture, please do.