From the Toronto Sun's dynamite Sunday front page to two consecutive false fronts Monday and Tuesday, such are the the highs and lows of tabloid journalism Quebecor style.
In the old days, the Sun's ad space was dominated by stereo ads and the running joke was every home should have at least two stereo systems.
But there were no false fronts. The fronts were left to a news team highly capable of selling papers with a photo and a catchy line.
Today, car, van and truck sales dominate ad space front to back.
Once again, we ask what is the price for selling out the Sun's front page?
Whatever it is, it is not enough.
To give credit where credit is due, here's a high:
ReplyDeleteToday (July 30), a man was shot and killed near the conclusion of Toronto's annual Caribana parade. The Toronto Star got the story wrong. The Globe and Mail got the story wrong. CBC-TV got the story wrong. National Post seems to have missed the story entirely.
Only Ian Robertson from the Toronto Sun got it right with full details and correct background information. Well done Ian!
This is entirely due to Ian's experience as a cop reporter. Had any other lesser Sun reporter done the story, I suspect they would've fallen short like the other newspapers and TV, all of which used less experienced reporters (to be polite).
My point here is that laying off experienced staff in favour of cheap new hires is/was a huge mistake. A paper needs "bench strength". An experienced reporter knows the news history of the city, they have connections and they know "how things work".
Not sure if this is a high or a low: In today's Toronto Sun paper (July 31), there are six pages of Ian Robertson stories. If Ian is a super hard worker (and I'm sure he is), then this is a high. If the Sun is grossly understaffed and Ian was forced to be a one-man newsroom, then this is a low.
ReplyDeleteHere's a low from today (August 21): the Toronto Sun (which I got for free) had 10 pages of "me-porting" (reporters writing about themselves or the Sun). Two pages were columnists, so maybe you can forgive them. I'm sure nothing interests the public more than reading about "meporters" talking about themselves. I guess meporting is a lot cheaper then reporting.
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