Eartha Kitt, a sexy lady who spoke her mind and entertained around the world, gone at 81.
Friday, 26 December 2008
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
Chatham voice
The Chatham Daily News has an Editorial/Opinion piece today advising readers how last week's layoffs at the newspaper will affect its content.
Written by Bruce Corcoran, managing editor, it mentions a loss of two people in the newsroom, but not by name and there are no "thanks" to the departing employees, but it does advise readers of changes to be made.
It reads:
Written by Bruce Corcoran, managing editor, it mentions a loss of two people in the newsroom, but not by name and there are no "thanks" to the departing employees, but it does advise readers of changes to be made.
It reads:
"These difficult economic times have affected most everyone lately, including those of us here at The Chatham Daily News.
"You may have noticed smaller papers than at this time last year, due in no small part to a great deal less advertising, from local and national advertisers. It's a sign of the times as the auto companies aren't advertising as often as they did in the past, while merchants are cutting costs and not placing ads in the paper as much.
"It's a similar story across the country. As a result, Sun Media laid off about 600 people last week, including a number here. Among the local cuts, The Chatham Daily News lost two people in our editorial department. We were running pretty lean as it was, and now we will be forced to make changes in how we cover Chatham-Kent.
"We will continue to try to cover as many events as possible, but there will most certainly be happenings that we just won't be able to attend.
"As well, several of our community features will soon no longer appear in our paper, beginning in January. Included are the weekly Flashbacks feature and Religious Roundup. We urge churches to utilize www.URChatham-Kent.ca, the community side of The Daily News website, to continue to promote upcoming church events and weekly gathering information.
"Due to the smaller news holes in the paper, and staff cutbacks, our caring and sharing photographs, of organizations and individuals donating to various charities, will be affected as well. We will no longer be publishing in our newspaper any cheque pass pictures for totals less than $10,000. In fact, we will no longer take such photos, but do encourage organizations to take their own pictures of such cheque passes between $1,000 and $9,999 and e-mail them to us at news@chathamdailynews.ca. We will post them in the photograph portion of the URChatham-Kent.caside of our website.
"We will continue to photograph cheque passes of $10,000 and above, and publish them in our paper.
"Other mainstay features such as community calendar will remain. We ask that whenever possible, for people to please e-mail their material to us, again at news@chathamdailynews.ca.
"Through all this, please bear in mind The Chatham Daily News remains your best source for local news in Chatham-Kent. In fact, we're getting the news to you sooner, with our website at www.chathamdailynews.ca.Often, we are posting news as it happens. There is no faster way of getting your news.
"We are also putting material up on the Internet that you just can't get in the newspaper. The Daily News is posting video on a daily basis, from human interest to hard-hitting news."
The piece includes Corcoran's e-mail.The Chatham Daily News, one of the Osprey Media newspapers picked up by Sun Media in 2007, gave this blogger his first reporting job in 1963 when it was a Thomson newspaper.
While the Toronto Sun had its Windsor Mafia, with a steady flow of Windsor Star reporters and editors being hired, the Globe and Mail had its Chatham Mafia.
The late Bob Turnbull, one of the Globe's Chatham Mafia, guided me and others to Chatham to earn their dues as cub reporters and we are forever indebted to the former city editor.
Those 16-hour days for $27.50 a week and all of the service club lunches and dinners you could handle while learning the ropes were invaluable.
Sadly, a new generation of print journalism hopefuls across Canada are losing the opportunity to work at community papers like the Daily News due to skeletal newsrooms.
While the Toronto Sun had its Windsor Mafia, with a steady flow of Windsor Star reporters and editors being hired, the Globe and Mail had its Chatham Mafia.
The late Bob Turnbull, one of the Globe's Chatham Mafia, guided me and others to Chatham to earn their dues as cub reporters and we are forever indebted to the former city editor.
Those 16-hour days for $27.50 a week and all of the service club lunches and dinners you could handle while learning the ropes were invaluable.
Sadly, a new generation of print journalism hopefuls across Canada are losing the opportunity to work at community papers like the Daily News due to skeletal newsrooms.
Belleville voice
Another Sun Media voice has been heard from following last week's layoffs, this time Chris Malette, city editor of the Belleville Intelligencer, speaks his mind.
No names of departing eight employees, but his Chris Malette 'At Large' column says, in part:
"Sorry to curdle your egg nog so close to Christmas, but it's a Titanic struggle to paint a cheery holiday smile on an otherwise glum parade of news this past week.
"First and foremost, we here at The Intell and at some of our sister papers in the Sun Media Quinte Newspaper Group - The Community Press, Trentonian, The County Weekly News and Shopper's Market - have felt the blow of the economy shifting into low gear.
"We lost some very good people this week, we will miss them and wish them whatever comfort we can at this time of year as they cope with such a devastating blow. You're in our hearts, all of you.
"But, after 175 years of bringing the news to Belleville and Quinte, we will commit to continue to keep you informed, amused, agitated enough to take pen in hand and abreast of the goings on in your communities, as always.
"Still, it hurts to bid farewell to some very talented and committed people, but as hard as that is, all the signs point to more hurt for the province, country and continent in the coming months. Pretty hard to keep a brave face in light of those grim predictions, eh?
"You, like many of us, are just so damned tired of hearing the endless parade of woe on the TV news, on our news wires and in our own communities. But, we have committed to bring it to you, unvarnished and tough as it may be to digest - it's what we do.
"Tough as it may be for many armchair media pundits to imagine, we don't dictate the news agenda. (In that vein, a lump of coal for you sneering types out there who jeer what you call "mainstream media" for our perceived communist, soul-wrecking bent. Feh, as our Jewish friends would say, and may you get cold porridge on Christmas morning.)
"Which brings me to the issue du jour - the auto industry. Bail or no bail . . ."
That's all it takes. A word to readers about the layoffs, a word of encouragement to those who were laid off. That is communicating.
The North Bay Nugget did it. Joe Warmington at the Toronto Sun attempted to do it, but his column was spiked, leaving Toronto Sun coverage of the story at two paragraphs.
If any other Sun Media editorial writers or columnists at newspapers touched by the 600 layoffs have commented in print or online about the aftermath of the announcement, please provide a link.
No names of departing eight employees, but his Chris Malette 'At Large' column says, in part:
"Sorry to curdle your egg nog so close to Christmas, but it's a Titanic struggle to paint a cheery holiday smile on an otherwise glum parade of news this past week.
"First and foremost, we here at The Intell and at some of our sister papers in the Sun Media Quinte Newspaper Group - The Community Press, Trentonian, The County Weekly News and Shopper's Market - have felt the blow of the economy shifting into low gear.
"We lost some very good people this week, we will miss them and wish them whatever comfort we can at this time of year as they cope with such a devastating blow. You're in our hearts, all of you.
"But, after 175 years of bringing the news to Belleville and Quinte, we will commit to continue to keep you informed, amused, agitated enough to take pen in hand and abreast of the goings on in your communities, as always.
"Still, it hurts to bid farewell to some very talented and committed people, but as hard as that is, all the signs point to more hurt for the province, country and continent in the coming months. Pretty hard to keep a brave face in light of those grim predictions, eh?
"You, like many of us, are just so damned tired of hearing the endless parade of woe on the TV news, on our news wires and in our own communities. But, we have committed to bring it to you, unvarnished and tough as it may be to digest - it's what we do.
"Tough as it may be for many armchair media pundits to imagine, we don't dictate the news agenda. (In that vein, a lump of coal for you sneering types out there who jeer what you call "mainstream media" for our perceived communist, soul-wrecking bent. Feh, as our Jewish friends would say, and may you get cold porridge on Christmas morning.)
"Which brings me to the issue du jour - the auto industry. Bail or no bail . . ."
That's all it takes. A word to readers about the layoffs, a word of encouragement to those who were laid off. That is communicating.
The North Bay Nugget did it. Joe Warmington at the Toronto Sun attempted to do it, but his column was spiked, leaving Toronto Sun coverage of the story at two paragraphs.
If any other Sun Media editorial writers or columnists at newspapers touched by the 600 layoffs have commented in print or online about the aftermath of the announcement, please provide a link.
30 - Joe Bergeron
Peter Worthington has used his Toronto Sun column to campaign on behalf of many worthy causes since the 1970s and the work of Joe and Pat Bergeron at their Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Picton has been one of them.
Today, he writes about the death of Joe Bergeron, a man he says was a hero to people who care about animals and a champion of any animal in distress.
"Abandoned animals, and those who care about animals, lost a great friend last weekend."
And Toronto Sun readers lost someone they have been cheering for since Peter began writing about the threatened animal sanctuary more than five years ago.
Sun readers contributed more than $35,000 in responding to Peter's appeals to help save the sanctuary, run by Joe and Pat for 20 years.
Today, he writes about the death of Joe Bergeron, a man he says was a hero to people who care about animals and a champion of any animal in distress.
"Abandoned animals, and those who care about animals, lost a great friend last weekend."
And Toronto Sun readers lost someone they have been cheering for since Peter began writing about the threatened animal sanctuary more than five years ago.
Sun readers contributed more than $35,000 in responding to Peter's appeals to help save the sanctuary, run by Joe and Pat for 20 years.
Sun readers are a generous lot when it comes to appeals from columnists. Talk to Joe Warmington and Mike Strobel about recent reader response to publicized causes.
Readers might not have met Joe, but they will surely feel his loss through Peter's column.
"On a personal level, I've never known anyone more dedicated and realistic than Joe Bergeron, whose whole being was devoted to others," Peter writes.
Readers might not have met Joe, but they will surely feel his loss through Peter's column.
"On a personal level, I've never known anyone more dedicated and realistic than Joe Bergeron, whose whole being was devoted to others," Peter writes.
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Merry? Not really
The Toronto Sun newsroom is not the merriest of places as Christmas 2008 approaches and it will only get worse in 2009 as the last of the layoffs take effect.
"After the layoffs are finished, there will be about 80 people left in editorial, down from about 200 when Quebecor took over in 1999," says Brad Honywill, president of the Southern Ontario Newsmedia Guild.
Depressing numbers for a major Toronto daily newspaper that was never top-heavy with staff at the best of times.
(Speaking of numbers, is there a Deep Throat out there who can provide TSF with the number of employees working out of 333 when Quebecor bought Sun Media in 1999 and the number of employees throughout the building today? We have heard 700 to 800 in 1999.)
More depressing than the numbers is working in the newsroom with colleagues who have been laid off, but will be on the job until their layoffs become effective in the new year.
"Under the contract, members must be given eight weeks notice of a layoff," says Brad. "The employer can opt to pay these people cash, in lieu of notice, if they want them to leave immediately."
Otherwise, laid off union members continue to work for another eight weeks.
How can you continue working for an employer who has told you your talents are dispensable?
"Having gone through a layoff, I know it can be a tortuous process working through the notice period," says Brad. "But it does give you time to prepare a resume, get your finances in order and search for another job."
"After the layoffs are finished, there will be about 80 people left in editorial, down from about 200 when Quebecor took over in 1999," says Brad Honywill, president of the Southern Ontario Newsmedia Guild.
Depressing numbers for a major Toronto daily newspaper that was never top-heavy with staff at the best of times.
(Speaking of numbers, is there a Deep Throat out there who can provide TSF with the number of employees working out of 333 when Quebecor bought Sun Media in 1999 and the number of employees throughout the building today? We have heard 700 to 800 in 1999.)
More depressing than the numbers is working in the newsroom with colleagues who have been laid off, but will be on the job until their layoffs become effective in the new year.
"Under the contract, members must be given eight weeks notice of a layoff," says Brad. "The employer can opt to pay these people cash, in lieu of notice, if they want them to leave immediately."
Otherwise, laid off union members continue to work for another eight weeks.
How can you continue working for an employer who has told you your talents are dispensable?
"Having gone through a layoff, I know it can be a tortuous process working through the notice period," says Brad. "But it does give you time to prepare a resume, get your finances in order and search for another job."
It has been one brutal week, but we wish you all a Merry Christmas:
The hundreds of people who have been forced out of their dream jobs at the Toronto Sun in the past decade;
The dozens who are about to say goodbye;
The remaining staffers who are doing what journalists are born to do - the best job possible.
And Michael Sifton, the former Osprey Media chief who provided more optimism for Sun employees in one short year than enjoyed under Quebecor since 1999.
The hundreds of people who have been forced out of their dream jobs at the Toronto Sun in the past decade;
The dozens who are about to say goodbye;
The remaining staffers who are doing what journalists are born to do - the best job possible.
And Michael Sifton, the former Osprey Media chief who provided more optimism for Sun employees in one short year than enjoyed under Quebecor since 1999.
Money is toast
Update: Rewrite . . . Money returned Wednesday. It is a tidy tabloid business page for readers wanting a quick biz fix, but the local personal touch is gone now that Linda Leatherdale has departed.
The Money page in the Toronto Sun print edition has been MIA for two consecutive days.
It appears the tabloid has pulled the plug now that veteran business editor Linda Leatherdale has left the building.
There goes another Sun reader draw - passionate crusades led by business editors to protest gas prices, credit card hikes, taxes and assorted other causes since the 1970s.
Those high profile Sun reader campaigns helped Garth Turner get to Ottawa and made Linda Leatherdale a household name.
It is less for more for Sun readers as Quebecor continues to whittle away all of the layers that made the Sun what is was - a unique, feisty tabloid with a keen interest in reader participation and feedback.
Nothing but wire copy on torontosun.com's Money pages this week.
The Money page in the Toronto Sun print edition has been MIA for two consecutive days.
It appears the tabloid has pulled the plug now that veteran business editor Linda Leatherdale has left the building.
There goes another Sun reader draw - passionate crusades led by business editors to protest gas prices, credit card hikes, taxes and assorted other causes since the 1970s.
Those high profile Sun reader campaigns helped Garth Turner get to Ottawa and made Linda Leatherdale a household name.
It is less for more for Sun readers as Quebecor continues to whittle away all of the layers that made the Sun what is was - a unique, feisty tabloid with a keen interest in reader participation and feedback.
Nothing but wire copy on torontosun.com's Money pages this week.
Len re Peter W.
Len Fortune, the Toronto Sun's former longtime graphics master, responds to TSF's call for honourary Senator status for Peter Worthington:
"Toronto's Riverdale riding missed the boat in the '80s when it twice had the opportunity of electing Peter to the Hill.
"Peter's no nonsense, take no prisoners approach was, and is, still needed in Ottawa, but the NDP's Lynn MacDonald held on to the riding in two hard-fought elections. Peter returned to writing after the last defeat - not that he ever left.
"It was a loss for all Canadians. Peter - I have no doubt - would have been an outstanding parliamentarian and definitely Cabinet material.
"Toronto's Riverdale riding missed the boat in the '80s when it twice had the opportunity of electing Peter to the Hill.
"Peter's no nonsense, take no prisoners approach was, and is, still needed in Ottawa, but the NDP's Lynn MacDonald held on to the riding in two hard-fought elections. Peter returned to writing after the last defeat - not that he ever left.
"It was a loss for all Canadians. Peter - I have no doubt - would have been an outstanding parliamentarian and definitely Cabinet material.
"An honourary Senator nod would be a nice gesture, but I have a feeling Peter has some thoughts on the worthiness of the Senate."
Thank you for the e-mail, Len.
Joan Sutton e-mail
Speaking of speaking your mind . . .An e-mail from Joan Sutton Straus, Toronto Sun Day Oner and founding Lifestyle editor, re Sun Media spiking columns:
"Spiking columns didn't begin with Quebecor, it began with the firing of Doug Creighton (in November 1992).
"The last column I wrote for the Sun was about Doug's firing. In it, I suggested it was time to stop referring to the board of directors as the board of directors and give them names - which I did.
"And, as is typical when a firing is an unpopular move, there were all kinds of rumors floating to justify that firing - that Doug drank too many martinis, that he was extravagant, etc. I wrote that if those were the true reasons for letting Doug go, then the board of directors should fire themselves as it had never bothered them before. They were known to drink martinis with him and had certainly enjoyed his generosity at seminars and in other situations.
"That column was spiked.
"Needless to say, I discussed this with various people, including Godfrey, to no avail. That was when I left the Sun for the last time.
"It was the only column of mine ever pulled at the Sun.
"(For the record, a column I wrote critical of Pierre Trudeau was pulled at the Star, but after various discussions they ran it intact the next day.) "
Thank you your e-mail Joan.
Thinking media?
Update on Think media . . .
It is alive and well at a new web site address. Our thanks to a reader of Think media who e-mailed the latest five-page online posting, dated Dec. 18.
Archives previously available on the other site are not available, so we don't know if the latest posting is the first since Nov. 17, just after PKP personally took control of Sun media.
Think media had been posted every two weeks for a year.
Think media sounds like something Michael Sifton, an experienced newspaper executive, would have introduced to keep employees informed about staff appointments and media innovations.
Sifton, former Osprey Media chief, was appointed Sun Media chief before Think media was introduced on Nov. 26, 2007. On the job, he was a calming influence for Sun employees shell shocked by eight years of cutbacks.
The day Sifton was turfed has been called Black Friday by disillusioned Sun staffers. Six weeks later, Black Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the old Think media site always included a "feedback" feature, but it is send only, not send and read. A Quebecor preference, no doubt.
Allowing readers and employees to see what is being said about Sun Media isn't one of Quebecor's priorities. To be truthful, we don't think Quebecor gives a damn.
Remember Allison Downie, the Toronto Sun's short-lived first readership editor, hired in 2005 by veteran newsman Glenn Garnett gave shop talk a try last year with an Inside the Sun blog while he was editor-in-chief, but when he moved on the blog closed up shop.
Letters to the editor are heavily monitored and the one-liners below the letters have become more confrontational than amusing in recent years.
Readers are being left in the dark when their favourite columnists and reporters suddenly fade to black.
The Toronto Sun, once reader friendly, is now dissing the people who dug for coin daily to make it a huge success. The Little Paper That Grew grew on their loyalty as readers.
Those same readers are no longer on the pedestal Doug, Peter and Don and the rest of the Day Oners built for them in 1971 and kept them on into the 1990s.
During the glory years, the attitude of the Sun was literally mi casa, su casa.
Quebecor, on the other hand, has been slapping readers in the face with cutbacks in employees, content and two-way communication.
Mum's the word, even if Quebecor Media, owner of Canada's largest newspaper chain, is in the communications business.
It is alive and well at a new web site address. Our thanks to a reader of Think media who e-mailed the latest five-page online posting, dated Dec. 18.
Archives previously available on the other site are not available, so we don't know if the latest posting is the first since Nov. 17, just after PKP personally took control of Sun media.
Think media had been posted every two weeks for a year.
Think media sounds like something Michael Sifton, an experienced newspaper executive, would have introduced to keep employees informed about staff appointments and media innovations.
Sifton, former Osprey Media chief, was appointed Sun Media chief before Think media was introduced on Nov. 26, 2007. On the job, he was a calming influence for Sun employees shell shocked by eight years of cutbacks.
The day Sifton was turfed has been called Black Friday by disillusioned Sun staffers. Six weeks later, Black Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the old Think media site always included a "feedback" feature, but it is send only, not send and read. A Quebecor preference, no doubt.
Allowing readers and employees to see what is being said about Sun Media isn't one of Quebecor's priorities. To be truthful, we don't think Quebecor gives a damn.
Remember Allison Downie, the Toronto Sun's short-lived first readership editor, hired in 2005 by veteran newsman Glenn Garnett gave shop talk a try last year with an Inside the Sun blog while he was editor-in-chief, but when he moved on the blog closed up shop.
Letters to the editor are heavily monitored and the one-liners below the letters have become more confrontational than amusing in recent years.
Readers are being left in the dark when their favourite columnists and reporters suddenly fade to black.
The Toronto Sun, once reader friendly, is now dissing the people who dug for coin daily to make it a huge success. The Little Paper That Grew grew on their loyalty as readers.
Those same readers are no longer on the pedestal Doug, Peter and Don and the rest of the Day Oners built for them in 1971 and kept them on into the 1990s.
During the glory years, the attitude of the Sun was literally mi casa, su casa.
Quebecor, on the other hand, has been slapping readers in the face with cutbacks in employees, content and two-way communication.
Mum's the word, even if Quebecor Media, owner of Canada's largest newspaper chain, is in the communications business.
Monday, 22 December 2008
Is Money dead?
Has the Toronto Sun's Money section in the print edition been yanked? It wasn't in today's Sun, days after business editor Linda Leatherdale left the building.
Most Toronto Sun readers looking forward to today's Monday morning Money read and Linda's column - as read on previous recent Mondays, Dec. 1, Dec. 8, Dec. 15 - were no doubt puzzled.
Puzzled because the Sun hasn't said a word in print about Linda being among the 600 Sun Media employees named when the axe fell last Tuesday.
That sucks big time - for Linda, her faithful readers, her ever-expanding business and government contacts and Sun columnists who obviously aren't being allowed to bid her adieu.
Joe Warmington tried to salute Linda for her tireless years at the Sun, but his column was spiked. That column was unspiked for TSF and you can read it here.
As we said earlier, Linda WAS the Money section and quietly letting her go when the economy is North America's top news story almost daily is beyond belief.
(The online Money section was nothing but CP and AP copy today.)
The sweep-it-under-the-carpet handling of Linda's exit and all of the other employees named on Black Tuesday diminishes the credibility of the Toronto Sun.
Is it RIP for Money?
Stay tuned.
Most Toronto Sun readers looking forward to today's Monday morning Money read and Linda's column - as read on previous recent Mondays, Dec. 1, Dec. 8, Dec. 15 - were no doubt puzzled.
Puzzled because the Sun hasn't said a word in print about Linda being among the 600 Sun Media employees named when the axe fell last Tuesday.
That sucks big time - for Linda, her faithful readers, her ever-expanding business and government contacts and Sun columnists who obviously aren't being allowed to bid her adieu.
Joe Warmington tried to salute Linda for her tireless years at the Sun, but his column was spiked. That column was unspiked for TSF and you can read it here.
As we said earlier, Linda WAS the Money section and quietly letting her go when the economy is North America's top news story almost daily is beyond belief.
(The online Money section was nothing but CP and AP copy today.)
The sweep-it-under-the-carpet handling of Linda's exit and all of the other employees named on Black Tuesday diminishes the credibility of the Toronto Sun.
Is it RIP for Money?
Stay tuned.
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