Monday 5 July 2010

CP changing hats?

Is the Canadian Press bowing out of member services to become a for-profit news agency?

A Susan Krashinsky story in the Globe and Mail says the 93-year-old CP has struck a tentative deal that would see it being owned by its three largest members:

CTVglobemedia, which owns the Globe and Mail; Toronto Star publisher Torstar Corp.; and Gesca, which owns La Presse.

The Globe story emphasizes CP's change of hats is tentative and would require federal approvals.

When the Toronto Sun dropped the Canadian Press in 1978 in favour of its very own news wire service - United Press Canada - CP carried on with its national cooperative operations.

Seven years later, the money-losing UPC was bought out by CP, its only competitor, and the Toronto Sun once again became a CP member.

Last Thursday, the Toronto Sun and all of the other papers in the Sun Media chain dropped CP/AP and will largely rely on the sharing of QMI stories and photos.

But this time, CP member services might not be available should Sun Media want to return to CP down the road.

5 comments:

  1. Today's Winnipeg Sun has a story out of New York about a hot dog eating contest. It's credited to QMI Agency. Does Sun Media have a reporter or bureau there? Where did they get that story?

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  2. I seriously doubt a reconstituted CP would let QMI get away with constant scalping of its wares. Once again PKP's penny-pinching could lead to unintended consequences.

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  3. QMI is using Reuters for some of their international and sports content so that might explain the hot-dog story.

    They dump CP and go to Reuters... surely cost wasn't that great a difference was it?

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  4. But the hot dog story was credited to QMI, not Reuters. So again, where did the Wpg. Sun get the hot dog story from? Did QMI make some phone calls for the story or did it rewrite the Reuters piece? If it did, shouldn't it credit the story to Reuters? Or does QMI have a stringer in the Big Apple?

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  5. QMI does have someone in New York

    http://twitter.com/mariejoelle

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