Keep in the loop by posting comments here on any Sun Media subject: layoffs, retirements, deaths, cutbacks, your memories, union settlements/strikes etc.
Comments will be moderated and posted, but they won't be edited so do try to be tidy in your typing.
Open Forum 1
Open Forum 1
http://bigcitylib.blogspot.com/2011/12/no-rice-for-ezra-uncle-bens-pulls.html
ReplyDeleteUncle Ben's cancels Sun TV adverts for 2012.
Non-union employees were given a copy of this letter this week. The short version is that there will be no cost of living increase for non-union employees for 2012.
ReplyDelete___________________________
SUN MEDIA
Chris Krygiel
Vice President, Human Resources
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
To All Sun Media Non-Union Employees
On behalf of the Senior Management team of Sun Media we would like to thank you for all of your efforts during the past year. We are fortunate to have so many talented and dedicated employees who are committed to the company and believe in the transformation to a multi-media organization.
With the continuing economic downturn newspaper organizations are experiencing, there is significant pressure on both the advertising and circulation revenues. Sun Media is no exception and we continue to deal with these very difficult issues by looking at creative and innovative revenue generating ideas.
We have also been forced to look at reducing our operating costs in light of the economic climate. We have made some very difficult decisions and one such decision is to announce that Sun Media will be implementing a salary freeze for 2012.
We understand that this decision is disappointing, but it was made after a great deal of discussion and not made lightly. This decision applies to all levels within the organization.
Once again we thank you for your support and in understanding this decision.
Chris Krygiel
The only reason why they have been "forced" to look at reducing the operating costs is because they don't know how to run a company in the first place.
ReplyDeleteGet rid of PKP and maybe you'll start seeing some improvements.
"We understand that this decision is disappointing, but it was made after a great deal of discussion and not made lightly."
ReplyDeleteHilarious. Do they say that every time they implement a salary freeze?
Why do I get the feeling the "great deal of discussion" lasted ten minutes or less?
Love the line at the end from Chris Kringle - err... Krygiel - thanking us for supporting and "understanding this decision."
ReplyDeleteIs there much choice?
Ho! Ho! Ho!
I see that PKP is mixing up the holiday gift giving this year.
ReplyDeleteSome people were given a pink slip for Christmas while remaining non-unionized staff were told they can forget about even the slightest salary increase for 2012.
I guess pink slips and salary freezes pass for "Christmas bonuses" in PKP's world.
A couple years ago, an announcement was made to a particular department at one building that they would be getting raises.
ReplyDeleteHow much was the raise?
10 cents per hour. That's just $4 per week before taxes. As expected, people didn't go ape over it. It was the first raise in 2 or 3 years.
Prior to the buyout of Osprey Media, people regularly got gift certificates for Christmas. After Quebecor bought them out, they gave some sort of profit sharing plan as a bonus, but that was only given out once. Next year, they got a bonus which was nice, however less than a few days later, 600 jobs got cut. The next year, no bonus at all. Nothing. Zing.
to all Non-Union employees, time to Union up! Union employees all will get raises next year.
ReplyDeleteMajor news in Peterborough with managing editor Ed Arnold (40 years) and entertainment editor Werner Bergen (25 years) announcing retirements in January.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3408251
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3405049
Time to union up? Yeah like PKP will allow that to happen. Good luck with that these days. Get ready for more Centres of Excellence sweatshops.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that there were bargaining units that negotiated a 0% increase in 2012. Can anyone confirm this?
ReplyDeleteLots of room in India for more centres. Advertisers are starting to catch on that their local paper is no so local anymore.
ReplyDeleteDec. 18, 4:35 p.m.: That is not quite correct for our local. We negotiated zero for 2010, 1% for 2011, and 1.5% for 2012.
ReplyDeleteRob Lamberti
Chair, Toronto Sun Unit
CEP Local 87M
Hey Rob,
ReplyDeleteSorry I couldnt chat more this morning. Was in the middle of some stuff with my daughters. My daughter sometimes works in that store, so maybe see you there again.
Pat Grier
After a year(?) of the Sun whining about the CBC and demanding tons of documents through Freedom of Information, some details were released today in a TORONTO SUN EXCLUSIVE.
ReplyDeleteThe CBC had claimed that a CBC party cost about $64,000. Well, the CBC lied! The Sun now has documents that prove the party cost $64,046.72. What a scandal! Take that CBC!
The Sun article has a few factual errors but who cares about facts.
http://torontoist.com/2011/12/2011-villain-sun-media/
ReplyDeleteThe downfall of the organization, albeit the economy, lies in the hands of senior management. For the last 10 years most have arranged huge salaries for themselves and their sidekicks. They won't feel the freeze. They've been preparing for this for years. I suppose one wouldn't mind if they worked hard. PkP seems blind to this.
ReplyDeleteIn letters obtained under access laws, Quebecor’s CEO scolds the CBC, even as he pleads for advertising dollars
ReplyDeletehttp://www2.macleans.ca/2011/12/20/hot-headed-off-the-presses/
Does anyone know if Sun Media gets government money? They must get something, somewhere???
ReplyDeleteThey do get grants from Heritage Canada, in the millions of dollars. CBC should check on that.
ReplyDeleteThey get money to help with mailing costs, used to be the Publisher's Assistance Program, can't remember what it's called now.
ReplyDeleteIf you've got a spare $800 bucks, you might want to sign up for Ezra Levant's Freedom Weekend
ReplyDeletehttp://www.freedomweekend.ca/
Freedom weekend. For real? Are you kidding me? And people would pay $900 to see Sun News stars? They have stars?
ReplyDeleteMaybe ol' Ezra is trying to come up with his own method of getting a Christmas bonus since the rest of us got a crappy PDF e-mailed to us from PKP of a winter photo with his scribble in one corner.
ReplyDeletePublisher's Assistance Program? Rather appropriate acronym in this case...
ReplyDeleteSun Media's new image:
ReplyDeletehttp://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/djclimenhaga/2012/01/they-said-what-what-be-done-about-sun-media
Welland Trib leaked teaser announcing "regional Niagara" section in Trib, Standard and Review. Sounds like an expansion of coverage, however I'm sure it's just a way to cut back.
ReplyDeleteit is a suspicious step toward what we have been worrying about here, eventually a common paper for the whole region with only a local wrapper front that will try to make it look like each city still has its own newspaper
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked in Niagara, I sometimes wondered if the region might not be better off with one newspaper. With almost half a million people, it seems like you could in theory, have a paper more on the scale of the Spec or the Record. Though I guess in practice, you'd probably just wind up with something worse than what's already there.
ReplyDeleteTo "7:06", what you are saying does make sense in theory. The difference in your comparison is that the Record and the Spec are both owned by a media company that cares about newspapers.
ReplyDeleteWell, if the company wants to lose more advertisers by having one more expensive paper, and wants to lose more customers because of even less local coverage, then for sure it will make one paper in Niagara. Whatever savings it might find with only one paper, it would surely lose out in the end.
ReplyDeletewhy have the advertisers not picked up on this mess?
ReplyDeleteNiagara seems like it might need help.... did I see two blank pages run in the Tribune last week? Seriously?
ReplyDeletewhite space is the key to good design
ReplyDeleteTwo blank pages? Explain
ReplyDeletewhat's worse...2 blanks pages or duplicating pages in the sames day paper? What a joke, centre of excellence, gives a new meaning to excellence that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteThe result of the lack of night supervision.
ReplyDeleteAll we get are excuses whenever we complain. Nobody is willing to be accountable for the neverending litany of errors, headline typos, paragraphs messed up, wrong captions (shall I keep going?)
ReplyDeleteWhat day had 2 blank pages? I am assuming by Tribune you are referring to the Welland paper? By far one of our worst products. Redeeming factor for us is that we barely have any subscribers left so if this was on a paid day barely anyone would have seen it.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who works at the Tribune, I take great offense at being called 'one of our worst products.' We do the best we can. And as far as I know, there were no blank pages in the paper. Someone tell me a date that it happened and I'll check it. There's no way blank pages would go out. Any blank pages would be filled with filler ads if something were to happen to the copy on the pages.
ReplyDeleteWe should all think the Sun Media way... everyone makes mistakes, no one has to own up to them. If you're silly enough to own up, you'll be replaced by a younger less smart version that doesn't know any better.
ReplyDeleteThere were no blank pages in the Welland Tribune. Someone has read the online edition and assumed it was the same in the print edition. It wasn't.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope whoever posted that writes better stories than they do blog postings.
We didn't invent the expression 'centres of excellence' or the system we work under, so if you've only ever written stories - if you've never had to lay out some pages, let alone several papers' worth in one night under a strict deadline - don't be so quick to criticize what you don't understand.
I've written stories, taken pictures and laid out my paper before it was taken away from me for no reason and turned into the corporate mess it is now.
ReplyDeleteBecause of that, I feel comfortable calling these hubs as "Centres of Excrement" because that is what I feel comes out of them.
By the way, this is not in any way a commentary on anything to do with Welland. It's just my general observation on how Sun Media does business in today's age.
I posted at Jan 13, 2012 11:35 AM... and those two blank pages were in the COPY delivered to my mother's house, who lives in Welland. You're right though.... maybe it was ONLY her copy. (sarcasm)
ReplyDeleteJust heard that the Welland Hub went poof today.
ReplyDeleteI find it sad that "Jan 15, 2012 03:25 PM" wrote to defend the product but in all likelihood is one of the ones that got let go today.
ReplyDeleteAs for "Jan 16, 2012 01:40 PM"....ok then, but how do you explain the comments of "Jan 17, 2012 08:40 AM"?
Let's face it, if Niagara was bad before it is only going to get worse. Local? Community?
@ 8:40 a.m. poster
ReplyDeleteFor your information, those blank pages came courtesy of the printing plant. Seems they didn't trim the paper when they were finished printing. So while you are technically correct that there were two blank pages, they had nothing to do with the Tribune staff.
So there are the facts for all on the blog.
@6:33 pm
ReplyDeleteI for one understand your frustration being one of the few left in this building. That said, we all look like idiots when we keep defending the actions of the company and how we try to do better with less etc only to be the next ones on the chopping block a few months later.
I heard yesterday there was finally going to be some trimming at the management level due to creation of one sales force. Less advertising managers was the story going around. Can anyone confirm?
So, the Toronto Sun has just finished doing layoffs and buyouts over the past few weeks and now ..... it's hiring ?!
ReplyDeleteThe Toronto Sun is looking for *several* reporters who will, each day, chase and write multiple stories for the paper, produce several web articles, write for Sun TV, do still photography, shoot video, report on-camera for Sun TV, do video editing, maintain a blog and produce Tweets.
I only assume that the lucky new hires will get a few hours to go home once in a while.
Could Anonymous Jan 17 10:21AM and Anonymous Jan 17 4:15 PM elaborate on who or what was let go on Jan 17, for the benefit of those of us in other regions?
ReplyDeleteJan 21 - 12:18 PM
ReplyDeleteFrom what I know, the Welland Hub (aka Pre-Press Dept) is no longer at Welland Tribune. All of the works they used to do there is now being done in Barrie (and probably some in India as well) The manager of the department was offered the opportunity to relocate, I don't know if she took the offer though. I'm not sure if they offered any of people there the opportunity to do the same though. That's all I know at the moment.
I don't know if the people in pagination were let go or not, I didn't get an answer on that one.
Starting Tuesday, they will be offering a regional section in the local newspapers (Standard, Review and Tribune). I'm not sure what will be so unique about it though, I only saw a poorly done ad for it in yesterday's edition of The Standard.
The newspapers in the Niagara region are rapidly declining in workforce. They aren't much of community newspapers like they used to be before they all got bought up by CanWest, Osprey Media and then Quebecor. It's truly sad what has became of the newspapers.
Jan 17, Welland Creative Hub closed down. 8 jobs lost. After a big layoff in Feb of last yr, same dept.
ReplyDeleteJust another eight jobs - that should cover the cost of a new Zamboni for the Nordiques.
ReplyDeleteThis company continues to slide down the crapper. Get out while you can. Life is better beyond Quebecor.
Relatively speaking, how are the Metroland fish-wraps doing in the Niagara market?
DeleteAt least they had PKP's Christmas e-mail to comfort them as they were pushed out the door. It's beyond sad at this point. At any given time, the Trib and Review have barely 20 people in the building.
ReplyDeleteTommasso's Trattoria at 400 Eastern Ave. has been booked for 6 p.m., Thursday Feb. 23 to raise a glass or two to those leaving the Toronto Sun this time around, including Rob Lamberti, John Coulbourn, Jim Baine, Al Maffi, Pam Davies, Mark O'Neill, Alex Urosevic, Kathy Webb-Nelson, Glenna Tapscott, Rick McCulloch, Joe Chung, Mark Wilson, Pierre Gavreau, Dave Fuller, George Middlebrook, Stephen Fraser, Terry England. Others? That is a lot of talent leaving 333. It is $10 per person. Get in touch with Veronica Henri if you can make the party.
ReplyDeleteJohn Coulbourn? That's a punch in the gut. I worked with John at the Calgary Sun and, yes, he was a demanding and sometimes difficult boss, but I learned a lot from him and have nothing but respect and affection for the man. John, if you read TSFamily, sorry I won't be able to be there next month in person but I'll be there in spirit. I hope you're leaving on your own accord and with a very nice payout. The Sun won't be the same without you. All the best with whatever the future holds for you.
DeleteDon't use the words fish wrap for the Metroland papers. they have the concept of COMMUNITY. They are making some in-roads in a couple of markets. Lots of jobs available at Metroland. No call-centres, most of the work is done locally...not in India good luck those that have left this pitiful company
ReplyDeleteMetroland/Torstar and Canwest all outsource to India and Philipines at a higher level then Sun Media. On top of prepress they outsource editorial pagination. Other then sales reps I haven't seen many employment ads from metroland?
ReplyDeleteAll the more reason to support local independent papers. All the chains outsource so it's time to support papers that keep jobs here and employ local folks.
DeleteMetroland doesn't know the word community, their business is flyers with a newspaper wrapped around it. 75% advertising to 25% editorial, full of press releases. Seriously, don't use Metroland as an example here.
ReplyDeleteThen why is Metroland kicking Sun Media's ass all over Ontario?
DeleteIf Metroland comes into our market, we are dead. Half the building feels this way.
Delete... as opposed to hardly any ads in our newspaper and hardly any local coverage because we've lost most of our reporters.....
ReplyDeleteThe description of the Metroland products sounds awfully close to what Sun Media calls Smart Shoppers.
ReplyDelete"Lost" the reporters? They're hardly lost when they're told to get out.
ReplyDeleteI knew it was the beginning of the end when they moved us off a real slick new and home grown ad order system that supported both print and online, millions of dollars in revenue, and put us on an old Osprey DOS system approximately 20 + years old. And not one senior executive manager stood up and said, ''wait, this is not a good idea!'' Not one. The money that has been lost at one larger paper due to that move (ie huge paper waste, employee work slow down, billing issues, bad reporting analysis, and so much more)has been buried.
ReplyDeletethe reason you have the old system is so HO can watch everything you do. They also will have the ability to enter the orders OFFSITE. Better is always less in the Sunmedia company.
ReplyDeleteThey could have watched everything we do with the old ''new'' system. It was all about that buzz word synergy, bad management, bad planning, just bad, bad, bad all the way around.
ReplyDeleteToday's Toronto Star (Feb 3) had major front page story plus main art about Sun TV. In fact, The Globe+Mail, National Post and CP all covered the same story. Oddly, only the Toronto Sun missed the story.
ReplyDeleteThe news story was about Sun TV and the federal government getting together to fake a citizenship ceremony on an episode of Sun TV last Fall. Everyone involved is denying everything and blaming an "unnamed official".
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1125580--mallick-fake-sun-tv-segment-has-mocked-our-democracy?bn=1
At the annual(?) newspaper publishers luncheon organized by the Ad Club of Toronto, to discuss the future of newspapers and to meet with the advertising industry, every major Toronto publisher was there except one. Apparently, the Toronto Sun wasn't invited.
Mike Walsh, group Publisher of The Brantford Expositor, was let go splitting up that division. Brantford will report to Judy Bullis and The Niagara Division. The rest go to The London Free Press. Sorry Brantford. It appears they aren't filling that publisher position. Hmmmm... regionalization is just a matter of time. Publishers should have to start worrying too. Any even beyond loyal ones like Walsh. If he's just a number...
ReplyDeletesmall victory for 'his' employees
DeleteMike Walsh was let go? That's quite a surprise right there.
ReplyDeleteAs some of you are aware of the fact that the staff of Creative Hub at Welland Tribune were let go back in January. However, it should be mentioned that the department manager was relocated to The St. Catharines Standard building. I'm not sure what her title position is now though since there's no prepress department anywhere else in the Niagara region now.
It's a wonder how the manager is still employed while Mike Walsh isn't. Guess it's all about knowing the right people.
Dunnville falls under Niagara as well
ReplyDeleteSad news today that a recent Sunshine Girl was killed in an automobile accident in Toronto. The Sun's coverage is marred somewhat by the fact they posted a story to the website that appears not to have been edited with some pretty bad typos, most notably one that changes Jack Boland's gender. Hopefully these will have been fixed by the time you read it at http://www.calgarysun.com/2012/02/07/four-time-ssg-killed-in-toronto
ReplyDeleteWell, photographer remains without a second "o".
DeleteSun Media is hilariously hypocritical today.
ReplyDeleteMuch time and energy has been spent slamming and mocking the CBC yet many of Sun Media's websites feature live chats of the Oilers-Senators game (which is nowhere near many of the towns where this is supposedly "Breaking News") and mentioning it as "Hockey Day in Canada."
I'm sure the same nonsense will persist during the other telecasts as well.
Do they not know the network broadcasting the games or do they think they can woo people away from the TV's and have them participate in their live chats instead?
It seems both hilarious and strange to see this crap on websites when one would think Sun Media wouldn't want anything to do with reminding people CBC's hockey telecasts are on the air.
30 - Trent Frayne, at 93. The sports legend mingled with the 333 crowd for a time.
ReplyDeleteThe Globe's Sandra Martin gives Trent a worthy sendoff:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/legendary-sports-writer-trent-frayne-dies/article2335230/singlepage/#articlecontent
This is funny. No, not really, but I've been using the word "pathetic" too much concerning the Sun these days:
ReplyDeletehttp://torontoist.com/2012/02/fair-dealing-for-sun-media/#more-132514
Just got another comment from a member of the community why out-of-town news is in their "local" paper.
ReplyDeleteThese editorial "hubs" are working just famously. Sure glad people from well outside the community are making decisions as to what goes in the paper.
Perhaps we're in someone else's "region" so their news gets put into a paper where the readers won't find it relevant.
Who needs local people in local offices writing and paginating local news? We can have people sitting in an office almost two hours away making bad decisions even though they don't know the local people or issues.
Who cares as long as it saves PKP money for his Nordiques. That's all that matters.
ReplyDeleteYou honestly think PKP or any of his kiss-assers care about "local" content in their papers? Not a chance.
I spoke to one of our circulation staffers. Everyday they hear the same thing when a person stops their subscription. Ever try to call your local newspaper and speak to someone in Sarnia about Welland or Kingston, bet they know all about those cities. Terrible news, ads done wherever, no local customer service, sounds like a mix for success.
ReplyDeleteAnyone read the junk about "the case for Quebec City" or whatever it was called? It's nice that PKP once again uses the chain to advance his personal agenda.
ReplyDeleteFriends of mine just laugh at that article knowing that it is PKP grandstanding to get his latest toy, an NHL team.
I can only shrug in embarrassment.
I just keep polishing up my portfolio with the hope I can leave this retched company and get a job with a company with staff that has a clue. In the meantime, I'll continue to be embarrassed by such blatant corporate cheerleading and out-of-market garbage that appears in my supposedly "local" paper and on the website.
I think I meant to say "wretched" instead of "retched."
DeleteI believe "retch" may be slang for vomit, which led to my confusion since that is what these print editions are turning into.
My mistake and apology.
I thought the mighty "Documentum" program was supposed to feature all these great Sun Media columns? If so, shouldn't they be used to fill space instead of out-of-market crap?
ReplyDeleteGeneral interest columns should be used to fill space if need be.
If these so-called "editors," operating outside of the communities they publish in most cases, knew how to manage space properly, perhaps there wouldn't be as big of a need to fill space.
That being said, I wonder what irrelevant stories and photos will appear in my community paper this week?
They have graphic artists straight out of college working at the Centres of Excellence, replacing experienced editors at local editors who cared about the product.
ReplyDeleteDo you think these kids care what they use to fill space? Just throw crap on the page and move onto the next one!
People that work at the pagination centres don't choose content for local sections. Don't know where you heard that one.
DeleteAlso, most of the people working at these centres came out of journalism schools, not graphic design schools. Thirdly, paginators for Sun Media these days make less then half of what editors make...how do you expect them to go above and beyond when they live below the poverty line? If the editors sit around doing nothing, refusing to take an active role while making these underpaid college grads do all their work (which happen regularly), then sorry, but the editor needs to take some of the blame for a shift in quality.
They also have papers where they replaced editors and publishers that cared and lived in the community with editors that don't live in the community and our readership knows it. There is a lack of local content, management that doesn't live in the community, corporate chest-thumping content, shall I continue? We hear it every day about how distanced we are becoming from our community
ReplyDeleteJust looking at the Toronto Sun's front web page (Feb. 24 at 5 PM). Top stories (top of the web page, above the fold) are:
ReplyDelete1) Picture of bikini model on a runway along with the headline "Latest Celebrity Gossip"
2) Picture of woman in a bikini top along with headline "Stacey Lacey attends Exclusive lingerie party"
3) Picture of woman in low-cut top along with headline "Kate Upton Steps Out Braless in a Low-Cut Top"
4) Picture of topless female PETA protesters with headline "Worthington: PETA not humane"
5) Two ads for "Sexapalooza" featuring a photo of a topless woman and man.
I must be getting old because I can remember when the Toronto Sun was a newspaper.
Sun Media tells advertisers that it has 10 million readers per week. Sound impressive? That's 10 million readers for *all* Sun Media publications (French and English) combined. Per week. (Note that this is readership and not paid circulation).
ReplyDeleteFor comparison, in the 1990s, the Toronto Sun alone hit 1 million readers per day.
Over the past ten years for the Toronto Sun, total weekly readership has dropped about 40-45% and total weekly paid circulation has dropped about 55%.
Just to point out, 43% of those 10 million Sun Media readers come from the Toronto Sun which continues to be the cash cow for Sun Media. The other important, but slightly smaller, cash cow is Le Journal De Montreal.
The Toronto Sun has never made as much money as the Le Journal De Montreal.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I was basing my information on Quebecor's annual reports going back to 2006. Obviously, those must be wrong.
DeleteNo, you are wrong, or can't undrstand an annual report. Quebecor doesn't specify EBITDA by paper. Ask any Sun Media Executive and they will confirm that Le Journal has always been more profitable.
ReplyDeleteI have just returned from a meeting with a long-time reader of the Sun Media paper I work for. He told me the competing independent paper seemed to be the "paper to read" in his apartment complex and that the long-standing paper I work for "isn't what it used to be." In fact, the independent paper is picked up by most of his building quickly while the Sun Media paper sits there for days before being tossed in the trash.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he's far from being the first person to think so. In fact, despite the long hours I put in, I still feel that vibe from many in the community if not outright hear those same feelings.
It's hard to argue his points when the local office was closed and pretty much every job was sent out-of-town or overseas to India.
Quebecor and Sun Media bean counters and "yes" men as well as their accountants like to think they are still producing quality local products but the people are seeing differently. The public can see right through the Quebecor/Sun Media B.S. and are noticing the papers they once relied upon and liked are shells of their former selves.
I'm sure this rant is all for naught as those making the decisions that are damaging these papers probably have never read the bulk of the papers they are hurting and never will. It takes time away from reading the spreadsheet.
Sun Media just launched a new web site for our paper and it looks great and we have had some nice feedback but last week I had a reader say something to me that made me take a second look. He is right. The new web site makes the news that is not part of our community stand out even more. We are getting farther away each day from what matters to our readers and they keep noticing it!
DeleteThat was the first thing I noticed too as well. It's basically a carbon copy of the Toronto Sun newspaper, but regardless, it does look better than the old template, which was absolutely ugly from the very beginning.
DeleteThis is a concern I have expressed for years saying that the community was not the focus of the local newspapers like they used to be. Quebecor has no interest in supporting our communities especially when they are outsourcing our jobs to other cities across Canada and to India too as well.
So much for having a community newspaper.
Not a surprise.
DeleteI've heard these new websites actually look decent (anything is better than the junk we have now) but it doesn't matter if corporate interference is allowed to persist.
Why do people from out-of-town think they know what is best for local markets? They don't and should stay off local websites.
They won't, and that makes these new websites a fruitless effort. It's like putting lipstick on a pig if Sun Media is going to fix up these websites but insist on having people from out-of-town put their crap on them too.
I just checked out Brantford's new site. Looks awesome. 8 out of the top 9 lead photos/story links are local. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteThat's because you looked at in the morning... just wait until corporate starts adding content
DeleteExactly.
DeleteThese corporate people don't understand the concept of a local paper and post their stuff to everyone's websites like good little corporate followers.
My neighbour - well into his 60s - cancelled his subscription last week after 50 years with the paper.
ReplyDeleteHe even had some copies of the paper from just three years ago and compared the number of local stories.
"Barely any local news anymore and it's so blatantly obvious to see Quebecor push its own agenda in columns and editorials."
----
PKP and his ass-kissers might think they're fooling the readers, but they are all sadly mistaken.
It's both sad and pathetic to go onto a small town weekly website anymore. National and international stuff that is totally irrelevant to the marketplace the paper is in is thrown onto the websites by Sun Media stooges who simply don't understand the market and what the readers are looking for.
DeleteNo wonder long time readers are bailing out left, right and centre. Hopefully advertisers are cluing into this.
Sun Media execs should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves and embarrassed but instead, they arrogantly think they are industry leaders even though they are not.
The Free Press is currently in the process of changing its email addresses "as part of a corporate harmonization process" reads a story on its website.
ReplyDeleteWho writes this stuff? lol
Yes everyone will apparently be given a name@sunmedia.ca email account instead of currently using your newspaper name.
ReplyDeleteCan't have an identity! We're all Sun Media drones!
At least it isn't @qmi or whatever
ReplyDeleteLiked the new website, until I realized that as the day progresses, the corporate content overtakes the local information. Who cares what the celebrities in Hollywood ate for breakfast, or who is sleeping with whom? I want to know what my city council is doing about local issues. Guess I had better turn the radio on. Oh, wait - they read from my local paper. So there are no real journalists left here, it seems, except the ones Sun Media fired, who are working in call centres.
ReplyDeleteFunny how all the regular naysayers on this site are so slow to point out that QMI is up for 9 National Newspaper Awards and dozens of provincial and national association awards. But I guess it's because the naysayers never get their name on the ballots. Congrats to all the nominees! For the naysayers, continue on your journey of pessimism, disappointment and mediocrity.
ReplyDeleteContinue on your journey of butt-kissing, sucking up and, yes, mediocrity.
DeleteMany of us don't have the time and could care less about entering our names into award competitions. We get the e-mails about entering our stuff and simply delete it. We produce quality work too but some of us just don't have the time to worry about newspaper competitions. Sorry.
It's not a surprise that QMI is up for national awards. As one of if not the largest media company in the country, shouldn't they be up for awards? Isn't it a given that a company this size would be represented at awards competitions?
Best of luck to those nominated but, no offense, I won't be following it any further. I'm too busy writing stories and taking photos to keep track of extra-curricular stuff. If I don't cover my community, nobody does.
Oh, for goodness sake, anonymous at 12 PM.
ReplyDeleteQMI is a very large newspaper chain.
The Waterloo Region Record alone has five nominations.
Be proud of the nominations, but nine for a chain as large as QMI the number is not exceptional.
@12 p.m. Funny how you fail to mention that all those people up for awards had to pay to enter out of their own pockets.
ReplyDeleteThe company no longer pays for any award entries. Maybe you missed that when you were busy being a naysayer yourself.
All those up for awards do deserve congratulations, especially for entering on their own dime. Hopefully they all win.
And when they do, I am sure the company will take credit for the win.
As host of this blog for more than five years, we'd say little, if any, naysaying going on here has to do with the integrity and professionalism of Sun Media newsroom employees. It has more to do with management firings, layoffs, buyouts and cutbacks, all affecting morale and working conditions. And let's not forget corporate efforts to curb all involvement in awards, including the Dunlops, which were axed in 2008. Quebecor and Sun Media have nothing to do with any nominations other than being employers of reporters, columnists and photographers who take pride in their work and want to be part of the competitive media, regionally, provincially and nationally. Kudos to nominees for refusing to be silenced by Quebecor and for entering competitions on their own dime. What remains hard to swallow is Quebecor stepping in to blow its own horn whenever awards are won.
ReplyDeleteYou won't hear too many, if any, of these nominated reporters proudly proclaiming that they work for 'Quebecor' or 'Sun Media' at the NNA awards gala. They will mumble it. Reporters from other companies are far more rah rah rah at the gala. This my dear friends is the big difference about working for our company. We always strive to do our best despite the company being a continual drain on our spirits. We have far too many noob managers today who barely know what a NNA is, let alone have ever attended a gala
DeleteReminds me of a photographer from Toronto who was nominated a couple of years back. The awards were in Montreal. He had to fly on his own dime because there was 'no money in the budget' for the company to pick up the flight. Yet when he won, Sunday's paper was all 'rah, rah, rah, look at who we got working us'!! They actually got a reporter to call Saturday night after he won looking for a quote - 'How's it feel to win, blah, blah, blah'. I would have hung up on them!! Nice to know that part of his prize money went to cover his travel expenses! Remember the days when the paper actually matched the prize money - dollar for dollar. Should any of this years nominees actually win, I wouldn't be surprised if Quebecor tried to take a 'slice' of the winnings.
DeleteWell said TSF! No need to say more.
ReplyDeleteThis is not meant to be critical of the Woodstock Sentinel Review but i'm surprised that our company can't find a way to make sure that newsroom has enough staff, even if it is just temporary, to make it possible to report at the Tori Stafford trial each day. This is crazy. If we are seriously committed to local news, our newspapers must have the staff to report on these sensational cases that happened in our community. The London Free Press is doing a fantastic job reporting on the trial but it would be nice to see Woodstock staff reporting on this Woodstock crime and trial in the Woodstock paper.... despite the trial being down the highway in London
ReplyDeleteSun Media is converting Smart Shopper products into editorial newspapers. Funny how the company doesn't acknowledge that in its propaganda material.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure readers in Ottawa, Guelph, Windsor and Kitchener-Waterloo will be impressed with all the QMI copy that will help fill these products as well as the web sites. Lord knows they won't hire enough staff to make these papers of any real quality.
I'm sure Sun Media views this as a commitment to these markets. Many others will view this as a way to prop up fledgling Smart Shoppers.
http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/static/business/article2369601.html
Doesn't Windsor have the highest unemployment rate in Canada or very close to it?
DeleteYet, Sun Media deems it proper to start a newspaper there?
Nice market research, folks.
Never let it be said Sun Media properly investigates its moves before it makes them.
Stop the presses: PKP has announced new annual Sun Media awards for his newspapers outside of Quebec. "Let's celebrate what we do best!" he says in a lengthy memo to the troops. Awards kits coming soon to newsrooms across Canada. We can't wait to hear what they will be called. How sweet were the Dunlops, axed by Quebecor in 2008 . . .
ReplyDeleteMemo? What memo? It never made its way to any newsrooms in Niagara
ReplyDeleteAt least Niagara has newsrooms. Some of us work from our homes so I guess we won't be getting any of these "kits."
DeleteI'm not sure the value of a Sun Media award anyway. I know publishers of independent papers that laugh at this company and the way it's run.
Anyway, I'm sure the "awards" the winners will get will be the type where you peel the foil off to get to the chocolate.
Looks like L Hunter goes to sun TV and Neelam Verma and Jacqui Delaney are history.
ReplyDeletehttp://bigcitylib.blogspot.ca/2012/03/more-sackings-at-sun-tv.html
Connie Woodcock says she has been axed after 18 years as an op-ed Toronto Sun columnist. One more lost link to the glory years of the Sun. She was a Sun reporter in the 70s and 80s.
ReplyDeleteGee, that's too bad! Now who's going to write their 'pro mega-quarry' columns! Sorry, I wasn't a fan even though I worked with her off and on for 25 years. Even though they were 'opinionated columns', I still felt that there was some Quebecor influenced 'shilling' going on.
ReplyDeleteLove my community, but can't bear watching what SM is doing to my local paper. The local layout centre in St. Catharines, where it seems students are writing headlines and laying out pages (I refuse to call it a centre of excellence) leads to copyediting boo-boos, several days of the week. Today's front-page gaffe: "DSBN looks oversees for funding," has me cringing over my morning coffee. It's the second headline, above the fold ... seems to me if you are calling yourself a centre of excellence, the readers have the right to expect no less.
ReplyDeleteWas that headline written, and proof-read, 'oversees'?
ReplyDeleteowh! that is brutal! At another 'centre of excellence' when you point stuff like this out they get defensive and make you feel like you are wrong.
ReplyDeleteI always include a suggested headline with my stories. I have a difficult time trusting other people anymore.
ReplyDeleteEven then, I can barely stand to take a look at my paper most weeks.
Granted, bad mistake that should have been caught, but when you are putting out two papers between the hours of 5 and 8:30 p.m. with four people - and only three of those editors proof all the pages, if they have time - mistakes are going to happen. You'll notice the headline in the St. Catharines Standard has the correct spelling of "overseas." Why? Because there is more time allowed to put that paper out and its front page is proofed by two editors. It's not a question of ability, it's a staffing issue. Most nights there just isn't enough time for proper proofreading, editing and posting to the Web. The copy/layout editors in St. Catharines and the one in Niagara Falls, as well as the one in Welland, who does not lay out pages, have years of experience and are years removed from being the students you suspect of putting out your paper. Unfortunately, all the experience in the world is for naught if you don't have the time to do your job to the best of your abilities.
ReplyDeleteThe pagination centres don't write headlines.... they use the suggested ones from editors, and the editors proof the page before it goes to press.
ReplyDeleteThis seems like another instance of editors blaming all their idiotic mistakes on the centres. Way to pass the buck.
These "editors" often write headlines on a story they know nothing about, try to put something clever on it instead of sticking to the originally suggested headline, send it to pagination, pagination inserts it on the page and the person who actually reported the story has to deal with the fallout after the paper hits the streets.
Delete"Idiotic" is a perfect word to describe what is going on with this company.
This is all the more reason pagination, ad design, editing, etc. should be done LOCALLY by individual newspapers.
ReplyDeleteLocal editors know what is important, where to place it in the paper and would give each individual newspaper its own unique flair.
Of course, that would make too much sense for Sun Media.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't individual branches paying into these so-called "Centres of Excellence"? If so, they aren't getting their money's worth and could probably do a better job themselves than what is coming out of these "centres."
Things get rushed, things get missed and things get messed up by overworked and underpaid employees who should be in properly staffed newspaper offices to begin with, instead of these stupid "hubs."
You know what 'overseas' and 'oversees' have in common? They both passed spellcheck. That's the only oversight most pages get.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I'm old enough to remember when editors actually signed off on proofs, which made it easy to find out who inserted the error the following morning.
Notice to Belleville Intel readers: Classifieds error
ReplyDeletePosted 11 minutes ago
Readers may notice there has been an error in the printing of our classifieds section in the Wednesday April 4 edition of The Intelligencer. Classified pages for a newspaper in the Niagara region have been inadvertently printed in The Intelligencer's classified pages owing to a computer error.
LMAO!
Delete"A computer error."
DeleteSure, it was!
The system is perfect, well designed and properly planned out right from the start! It must have been a computer foul-up! Quebecor and Sun Media don't make mistakes! Nooooo!
Somebody needs to start a 'Regret the Sun Media Error' site because lord knows there are enough screw ups each day to fill it
ReplyDeleteHey Sun Media, here's an important lesson about doing business in the world of grown-ups: if you're low on customers, the best way to get some more is to offer a better product than your competitor, NOT to offer a crappy product while repeatedly telling your customers that your competitor sucks. That would be like going into a Timmy's to find that all the signs featuring the new delicious products of the season have been replaced with "Starbucks sucks", as you wait in a long line to order your stale coffee.
ReplyDeleteWas Titanic 3-D pulled out of GTA theatres after a few days, or did the Saturday Sun publish outdated movie times? We think it is the latter.
ReplyDeletePKP probably still watches the Michael Keaton movie "The Paper" and laughs at the fact the paper portrayed in the movie actually has an office and a staff.
DeleteThis is the kind of thing that happens when you try and run papers by remote control. It just doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteBut try telling PKP and his Sun Media management team that.
Turns out not all Sun Media drones have shows on FNN.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/sciencetech/archives/2012/04/20120407-163901.html
As of Tuesday, the entire Woodstock Ad Pagination and production was given their layoff notices. All sun ads will now be built in India through a company called Affinity. Nice eh? Can't wait 'til this company folds. How can that not happen soon??
ReplyDeleteWhat makes this situation even sadder is that I've seen Sun Media management outright lie to clients and say their ads are built locally and not outsourced.
DeleteThe scoundrels will stop at nothing to save a buck. Go Nordiques Go!
On the plus side, those laid off can laugh when their former employer gets bitched out by clients when ads having spelling mistakes etc. It happens over and over and will get worse thanks to outsourcing jobs to people whose first language isn't English.
Any word on the Barrie hub?
ReplyDeleteYou are in a dreamland if you think other media companies are not outsourcing to India. EVERY large media company in Canada outsources. Torstar, Metroland, Post Media...outsource more then Sun Media.
ReplyDeleteYou are right however no company owns more little newspapers in little towns where businesses will revolt over this. Little town businesses are very sensitive to this
DeleteMost of our ads have been produced with Affinity for over a year. Some that we request which require special procedures are still done by our company. As far as creativity it depends what is submitted - garbage in, garbage out. Overall they produce great ads with a quicker turn around time which clients love. And we don't have to deal with the heavy sighs and eye rolling when we drop a large load of ads into production. By the way, spelling mistakes in ads are a rep and client proofing issue, no matter who produced the ad. Finally, we don't give our clients enough credit for understanding that we live in a global economy, something they also deal with. Just look at the stickers or tags on the products they sell, the software they use etc. etc. As long as the rep has the relationship with the client and we get their message in front of thousands of people the rest is a moot point.
ReplyDeleteGarbage in, garbage out... that's the problem with Affinity in general. When I was designing, if an ad rep supplied a terrible logo (say, something photocopied off a business card) and terrible photos, it was worth my time to find a good quality logo and to do my best to maximize the quality of the ad. While there are some people at Affinity who do the same, the trouble is that far too many people there just run with whatever garbage they are supplied with. It's not just a problem at Affinity either; I have never seen the tolerance so low for computer-related media. I'm not sure when this phenomenon started, but I think the overwhelming opinion these days is "if it's good enough for ANY competitor, it's good enough for us." Oh, I long for the days when the editors would actually call back a page because the photo was low resolution... Yes, the grass sure looks greener through my rose-coloured glasses.
DeleteI guess throwing countless people out of work is worthless if the sales people don't have to put up with "heavy sighs and eye rolling."
DeleteFace it, if one paper is designing its ads locally and the other sends its ads to India, the advantage goes to the local paper. Most people I see turn their noses up when they hear ads are outsourced because they know local jobs were lost as a result. Clients must know that fewer people working means fewer potential customers for them.
The sales people I speak to remarked how the quality dropped as soon as Affinity started being used.
DeleteThey just shake their heads at some of the stuff that comes back from India.
There are, as I type this, FIVE pieces of corporate crap on my local community website. The biggest "gem" of them all - "Can a fart kill?"
ReplyDeleteStay classy, Sun Media.
Interesting read here: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/sun-news-network-turns-old-continues-spark-controversy-080008845.html
ReplyDeleteGO SUN NEWS GO!!
@Anon Apr 21 6:07 - Maybe it's just a matter of timing, but whenever I hear about Sun News they're either bashing the CBC or kissing Danielle Smith's butt. If you're going to be a one-note network of course people are going to get tired of you. I'm so glad I don't work for the Sun anymore. I have a face and voice for radio and I'd hate to be forced to double as a TV reporter.
ReplyDeleteVery, very long, but readable piece from Montreal Gazette radio/TV reporter on Sun TV:
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.fagstein.com/2012/04/18/sun-news-network-review/
It's a shame I live in a part of Canada where Sun News isn't carried. Apparently it's quite entertaining seeing them eating crow and wiping the egg off their face after tonight's election in Alberta. Some of the user comments on the site though are borderline scary in their reactions. The world isn't gonna come to an end because an election doesn't go your way. I've lived with that reality for 43 years.
ReplyDeleteOnce again enjoyed reading the same dog killed story not on different pages, but ON THE SAME DAMN PAGE in opposite corners. And the bottom story even had a photo of the dog!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone edit anyone? Another fine product courtesy of the Centre of Excellence.
When I read the double doggie story page, for a minute I thought I was watching the local TV snooze cast there were so many dog stories.
DeleteHey everybody,
ReplyDeleteI think we should congratulate the three Sun Media journalists who won at the 2012 NNAs: Shawn Jeffords of the Sarnia Observer in Local Reporting for stories of prescription pill abuse in the community; Sports Photography: Derek Ruttan of the London Free Press for Sports Photography of a hurdles runner outdistancing his opponents at a high school meet; and Marc Beaudet, Le Journal de Montréal, for editorial cartooning.
Rob Lamberti
Congrats to those winners Rob!!
ReplyDeleteNow onto something different. I didn't realize that all Sun Media owned newspaper buildings were up for sale... that's kind of crazy.
our building just sold in cobourg
DeleteGotta pay for that Quebec City Arena somehow. You definitely don't way to be a '4th liner' on the new Nordiques, otherwise you'll be finding yourself behind the Zamboni between periods!
DeleteA lot of buildings have been sold around the company. I'm sure that in all cases, all profits from the sale went to corporate with nothing to the local paper... even though it was the local paper that paid to maintain the building in the first place.
DeleteWhat we are witnessing here, pals, is a 'managed dismantling' of the company. Every last nickel will be sucked out, then the remains sold for scrap. That is what Q-cor does, that is the only thing it does. The presses will be the last thing operational, because of the third-party jobs they print, but eventually will be sold, broken down and shipped overseas.
Deletehintonvoice.com/voice-heard-loud-and-clear-at-national-awards-p1813-140.htm
ReplyDeleteCongrats to the former Sun Media staffers who launched an independent weekly in Hinton, Alberta, in 2009, stuck with it and are now raking in major awards. Well done.
ReplyDeletehttp://hintonvoice.com/
Just heard at the convention that Peterborough Examiner ad director and former AWNA president Bob Doornenbal got his second pink slip from Sun Media this week. Sounds like two times lucky!
ReplyDeleteAlthough a slick new layout should mean good things for these new Sun Media websites, the fine corporate folks have still managed to find a way to screw it up.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, I checked the Paris Star website. I don't know anyone in Paris nor do I live anywhere near there, but I went on this site because I know it's been converted to one of these allegedly "exciting new websites."
On it, I find the following non-Paris stories:
-Ottawa Tulip Festival
-Mike Green helping Washington beat the NY Rangers
-Jean Charest tuition deal
-George "Goober" Lindsay obit
-Law would ban riot masks
-Avengers smashing box office records
Where are the LOCAL stories?!?!?
Sure, there are a few, but corporate interference has pushed local copy to the background and off the main page.
I, in no way, blame the staff in Paris for this. It's just another example of management in this company not knowing what a community weekly is all about and plopping crap on the website that isn't local to that community.
Sun Media pushes its national crap and think they are giving people what they want to read instead of the local news they actually do want.
Get a clue, Sun Media. Despite a nice layout, these websites are disgraceful because of local content being pushed aside.
They. Don't. Care.
Deletethis is what happens when you have editors who don't even live in the community anymore. they replaced the people who cared and lived in the community and got kicked out the door
Deletehttp://tinyurl.com/867rzjh
ReplyDeletePostmedia is returning to the Canadian Press. The "old" Toronto Sun returned to CP after UPC failed. Doesn't bode well for Quebecor's QMI.
DeleteLocal copy on our weekly website is pushed way down because of stories posted by national editors. Not knocking those editors, they have a job to do, but no one in my area cares about some of the national stuff posted.
ReplyDeleteCan't even move the local copy up without wasting an hour of posting national copy as top cpoy, submitting, letting it sit a few minutes, removing the national copy and then doing it over and over until I can local copy near the top again.
Frustrating as hell and no one wants to do anything about it, or can do anything about it.
This company pushes local, local, local - pushes it right out of the website that is!
The problem is these national editors should have no access to websites of smaller papers. National copy doesn't belong in smaller papers. Period.
DeleteThey don't get what community newspapers are all about.
Calgary Herald just announced it's cancelling its Sunday edition as of the end of July in favor of online - Paul Godrey's "online first" mantra in action. Will the Sun follow suit or will it capitalize on this, I wonder.
ReplyDeleteIsn't Sun Media already trying to do this?
Deletewhy is there no good information on this site anymore. is everyone gone fishin'
ReplyDeleteI can tell you that cutting editions was discussed and planned at the management level in our group but was all of a sudden taken off the table without us being given an explanation a little more than one year ago but my guess it was merely a postponement that will undoubtedly go forward at some point later this year
ReplyDeletewhich group was that?
DeleteSorry I can say it is in Ontario but to say specifically which one on this board would just send corporate on a witchhunt about who in our group is posting this information. I do not think this edition-cutting plan was limited to just our group, at least that was my impression at that time
DeleteAnyone else being asked to use up all vacation time this year?
ReplyDeleteAnyone else thinking this is because another round of layoffs and firings is on the way and The Corporation's cheap management wants to make buyout packages as little as possible?
I'm likely overreacting but with Stun Media, I can't help being a little bit on edge.
Not overreacting at all, Sun Media has cut a large number of jobs over the past few years. Niagara got hit quite hard several times over the past few years.
DeleteYa, it's being presented as some generous display by Sun Media ... yet, we can't take the cash. We have to take the weeks, within a certain time frame, in less than ideal months. Anyone who has worked for this company for awhile knows exactly what's going on here - they're making the severence package less cumbersome when they let people go. It's always about what benefits the friggin' company.
DeleteSadly, that's probably the case. How many jobs have they cut at The Standard, Tribune and Review since Quebecor took over? Not to mention the number of departments including the prepress dept that were eliminated too as well.
DeleteIt has been discussed at our paper. I would think you hit the nail right on!
ReplyDeleteAnyone here what is happening in St.Catherines?
About 10 of 12 employees in the business office at The Standard are being terminated. Their positions are considered "redundant," and the work previously done by these ladies is being shifted to London.
Deletewhats happening in st catharines in regard to what?
ReplyDeleteGotta wonder who green-lighted the Bonk, Marry, Kill debacle. That's the kind of thing you do on a road trip with the guys, not in a national newspaper. Wasn't even clever, just crass.
ReplyDeleteBish
Some of the people writing headlines and editing have the mentality of 14-year-old kids. It's like they think of the most immature headline they can and giggle when they see it in print or online.
DeleteBut hey, at least management will find it "edgy" and approve of it.
They go over the edge when their "cute" headlines are for stories that involve deaths. Toronto Sun vets will recall the Thunder of Little Feet head in the 1980s involving a Third World disaster. Management - and readers - were not amused. That lack of sensitivity has returned to Sun Media pages with a frequency that can't be excused as temporary lapses of judgment. It is juvenile and shouldn't be tolerated.
DeleteI recall recently where a story about dinosaurs being killed off by their own farts as being "Breaking News" on the websites.
DeleteSomeone ought to put the children to bed and get people who are out of puberty.
St Catharines was one of the last accounting departments around. almost everyone else is in London. It was just a matter of time.
ReplyDeleteNaw, say it ain't so. SUN News tells a fib - I can't believe it. Read here: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/06/05/sun-news-fake-citizenship-ceremony-jason-kenney_n_1569958.html?ref=canada
ReplyDeleteAnother vote against these new websites.
ReplyDeleteOn the surface, the design is good, but weekly papers get their local stuff bumped off the site far too quickly in favor of stuff being put on in Toronto or elsewhere.
Leave it to Sun Media to ruin everything it touches. Nice work.
When exactly did it become defensible for a "journalist" to tell people they disagree with to #&%* their mother's anyway? Shameful. Not cutting edge, just shameful. Not "tough enough to stand up to the big guys". Just shameful. Not "straight talk". Just shameful drunk ahole at the bar talk.
ReplyDeleteCan you clarify? I think the message in the first sentence is garbled.
DeleteSo we've lost social media guru William Wolfe-Wylie to PostMedia. William was always willing to help out when it came to social media and was extremely knowledgeable. A loss to the company for sure
ReplyDeletegood for William! Social Media for Sunmedia is no media
ReplyDeleteIn Saturday's edition of The St. Catharines Standard newspaper, they had a huge front page featuring the Wallenda wire walk. However, it was largely obstructed by a half-page tabloid wrap-around advertisement.
ReplyDeleteWay to lose customers by obstructing the big story. It's annoying how they are doing that at least once a week, they do it at least 2 sections of the newspaper every Saturday.
I've been told more than once by management with this company that the sales people pay the salaries of the editorial people with the implication being that editors and reporters should just sit there, shut up and let the sales staff sell every square inch of the paper regardless of how the paper looks afterward.
DeleteI think some of these publishers and sales people would sell their souls if it meant hitting their budget numbers and getting their almighty commissions.
The worst is when sales staff march up to reporters and essentially demand that a story be done on one of their clients. Not that has ever happened to me before....
I can see that happening at some places. By the way, they did another wrap-around advertisement in Monday's edition of The St. Catharines Standard.
DeleteThey make it a big hassle to read the newspaper with these ads in the way.