Linda's new blog

Linda Leatherdale, the Toronto Sun's veteran business editor/columnist cut by Sun Media last month, is continuing her crusades online with a new blog.

The veteran fighter of good causes on behalf of Sun readers invites former Sun readers , friends and former colleagues to help give her a new voice online.

Linda says she is as busy as ever with TV interviews, financial seminars, speaking engagements, two new books and creating the blog that will include videos of interviews with key people in finance.

TSF wishes her all the best and huge online support.

Says Linda in her introduction:

"My New Beginning

"A new year, and new beginning - after 2008 led to a boot out the corporate door on my birthday to usher in Freedom 55.

"I am not alone, though I must confess I had been seeking freedom from the long daily commute and unhealthy, toxic atmosphere in a corporate world gone mad with layoffs and dwindling profits while employee stress hits meltdown.

"My daughter Skye, a cancer survivor, taught me life is too short and what truly matters is your own inner happiness and living life to the fullest - not killing yourself as a slave to the system.

"But, let's be real. We all need to work, make money and provide. And for many years, I was very happy at work where I had a platform to try to liberate the people into financial freedom and happiness.

"Luckily, I followed my own advice and was already planning my "Findependence" Day, which is the topic of Jonathan Chevreau's great new book. Read it, it will set you free.

"When my new streaming videos are up and running, Chevreau - the popular personal finance expert at the National Post - will be my first interview, where we'll be talking about my new independence and how others can make the dream of retirement come true.

"But trust me, though you can call it semi-retirement, I, by no means, plan to retire. There is still so much to do, and so much to say. Not only am I booked for TV shows, financial seminars and speaking engagements, but I am working on two new books - a sequel to my first book Money Is A Girl's Best Friend, called Money Is A Kid's Best Friend, and another book, which is closest to my heart, The Great Cleansing of Capitalism.

"My loyal fans will know I was the only journalist in Canada to predict this Economic Armageddon that is before us, and now I plan on trying to help, as best I can, to get us out of this mess.

"In cleaning out my office, I came across a number of letters from Sun brass congratulating me on a job well done on my advice articles and crusades I took on for readers. But one letter that stood out was from Sun founder Doug Creighton, who commended me on the direction I was taking the Money section, after one of our yearly editorial meetings.

"In it, he offered a word of caution. Negativity, he said, led to the demise of the David Peterson's Liberals, and though we were in a deep recession and Bob Rae's NDP deepened the deflationary spiral with their tax and spend policies, now was the time to try to be positive and offer advice.

"Advice I did with how to survive seminars, a job bank to help the desperate find work and a first-ever Survival Summit, where we brought in New Zealand's outspoken finance minister, Sir Roger Douglas, who cautioned Canada not to hit the debt wall.

"Then, we brought Canada's former finance minister and PM Paul Martin to the table and offered Seven Summit Solutions. At first, Martin refused to act, but then came a concerted effort to get Canada out of debt along with tax cuts.

(more to come)"

Linda, who was at Sun Media since 1985, is landing on her feet running after being shown the door on her 55th birthday.

That's good news for people in need of direction in these tough times.

Thanks Doug

On this day five years ago, Doug Creighton died at 75 from Parkinson's disease and a broken heart.

His spirit died 12 years earlier when bastards in the Toronto Sun boardroom ousted him from the tabloid he co-founded in 1971 with Peter Worthington and Don Hunt.

Many words were spoken and written after Doug died on Jan. 7, 2004, including an obit penned by Warren Gerard, the late, great Toronto Star obit writer. It remains online five years later, as it should.

The "why?" of Doug's ousting has never been answered, but Paul Godfrey's announcement in front of shocked employees on Thursday, Nov. 5, 1992, that he was in as CEO and Doug was out, was, for many of us, the day the music died.

Prophetically, it was.

All of the peaks reached by the Little Paper That Grew were marked while Doug was at the helm as founding publisher and ultimately, CEO. It has been a slippery slope since his ouster. The buyouts began a year later and you know the rest of the story.

We rarely mention Godfrey's name on this blog because in our gut, he played a role in Doug's ouster, as Doug said he suspected in his book, Sunburned: Memoirs of a Newspaperman.

Doug officially had a year to go before retiring and Godfrey, a politician he hired as publisher, would be his successor. Word was Doug was having second thoughts when the axe fell.

Until the "why?" of Doug's ouster is explained, we'll hold on to those thoughts about Godfrey.

Doug, a much loved and admired newspaperman with roots stemming from the Toronto Telegram in the 1940s, was, as then Sun columnist Christie Blatchford said, "more than a chief executive officer to the people who worked for him. He gave us loyalty, compassion and humanity."

She penned those words for a full-page Toronto Sun ad, paid for by numerous employees who were eager to let Doug, colleagues and readers know where their loyalties were embedded.

We were loyal to Doug because, in a nutshell, he was a newspaperman, one of us.

When the going was good, which was most of the time, we partied at the invitation of Doug, Peter and Don. The 20th anniversary party at the SkyDome in 1991 was a show stopper.

There are also untold stories of Doug going out of his way to assist employees in times of bereavement, illness and financial need. He treated everyone as family, including a couple of top drawer alcoholics who would have been shown the door at other newspapers.

The bean counters Doug allowed into the building by going public to pursue expansion goals never did grasp the concept of "family" and "sharing" in business. Those sentiments were seriously out of whack with their bottom line doctrine.

Doug was everything the backstabbing Sun board members of that day and PKP are not. They will probably go to their graves perplexed by the lasting admiration we have for Doug.

Truth is, you can't buy loyalty.

You can't treat newspaper people like mindless, dispensable sheep and expect any degree of loyalty.

You can't treat readers like inconvenient necessities and expect them to remain loyal.

The Toronto Sun earned its bragging rights as one of the Top 100 companies to work for with mutual respect, compassion, heart and a sense of sharing.

You need to have worked in the Sun newsroom then to appreciate the daily ritual of a couple of hundred talented people coming together daily, working their magic and producing a respectable tabloid. The dress was casual, the environment was laid back and friendly.

As the late Sun writer Jerry Gladman once told a neighbor: "I am not going to work, I am going to be with friends."

The newsroom to die for was too good to last.

It broke our hearts to see Doug discarded at the tabloid he called a home away from home for 21 years. To express our gratitude, we threw a 64th birthday party for him where it all began in 1971 - the Eclipse building.

About 900 people, mostly employees, crammed into the creaky second floor factory space many of us once called home to say thanks.

As Doug wrote in ending his 195-page memoirs:

"I was with my real friends - the staff. I will never forget them. Nor will I forget that they were the real heroes who helped to create the company.

"If I had to leave, it at least ended where it all began."

Doug, an Order of Canada recipient, watched the decline of the Sun from the sidelines in the years before his death.

He has been spared the demoralizing slide of the past five years, last month's Black Tuesday and the pending buyouts of more veterans from the glory days.

He wouldn't recognize today's Sun, with a skeleton newsroom, zero morale, a successful tabloid formula all but abandoned, a half-empty 333, a payroll halved since he left, and a total lack of respect for employees and readers.

He would cringe at the thought of longtime dedicated employees, including John Downing, Valerie Gibson and Linda Leatherdale, leaving without thanking them for their loyalty in print. That is not the Sun he cherished.

But Doug would smile his broad smile at the presence of Peter Worthington, Andy Donato, Christina Blizzard and Jim Thomson, the last four Day Oners still on the job 37 years after the tabloid was launched by 62 men and woman from the defunct Toronto Telegram.

(Andy's fulfilled pledge to include Doug's image in every one of his editorial cartoons, from the time of his ouster to his official retirement date in 1993, sealed our respect for Andy.)

So the Sun, as it is being managed today, would be foreign to everything Doug believed in as a co-founder.

Yes, print newspaper sales are on the decline, but with a never-say-die tabloid boss with Doug's commitment to print, the Sun would be fighting the good fight with ample staff and the full support of loyal employees and readers.

He would embrace the Internet, but not at the expense of his beloved tabloid.

The Miracle on King Street is fading fast under Quebecor, but we'll always have the glory years at the tabloid in our hearts. They can't take that away from us.

In 1971, some pundits said the Sun would never fly.

It flew high for 21 years.

More than 2,000 employees over the years became lifelong members of what Doug affectionately called the Toronto Sun Family.

As TSF members, we are forever grateful for being blessed with the opportunity to share in a unique North American print media success story. It was quite the ride.

Thanks Doug. We miss you and love you as always.

Free Suns?

Updated for location
TSF reader J.A. Goneaux says he picked up a free Toronto Sun today - and didn't steal it.

"I just picked up a paper from (a new and smaller) Sun box. I didn't pay a dime. No, I didn't steal it. The box says 'complimentary', as does the paper.

"No, this isn't in a hotel or truck stop.

"It was on Yonge Street . . ."

If the Sun is free on busy Yonge Street, is that not a step closer to making it a free commuter newspaper, say a Sun/24 hours giveaway as rumoured for the past two years on TSF?

(The box was on Yonge Street at Finch, east side, just behind the steps for the TTC. beside Scotiabank.)

"Yes, I thought that it was the normal freebie, but it was a Sun box, red, but new and smaller than the normal ones. Full Sun, if by "full" one means 56 pages . . ."

Is there a citizen journalist out there who can snap a photo of the 'complimentary' Sun box for TSF?

With all of the cutbacks and job losses, there is less to give away in 2009. The Toronto Sun page counts for yesterday and today? A very light 56 pages.

Seven buyouts?

Updated for clarification:

Seven Toronto Sun newsroom employees with more than 100 years of print media experience in total, are negotiating with Sun Media for buyout packages, sources say.

One source says if approved, the seven buyouts for union and non-union employees would save seven of the 49 jobs cut early in December and on Black Tuesday.

That would be good news for seven employees hoping for reprieves, but bad news for the Sun and its readers with a raft of experience floating out the front door.

"If the names I am hearing are correct, the paper will see well over 100-years collective service walk out the door," says one source. "What a waste."

TSF has heard names attached to a few of the buyout proposals and, if accurate, the purging of the "old ways" at the Sun will be nearing completion.

Once the final remnants of the glory days are out the door, PKP will have the flagship Sun sans vets who remember when the tabloid was more than just a source of income.

PKP doesn't want to hear about the Sun years when it had heart, character and focus, but as long as pre-Quebecor employees remain on the job, comparisons will be made.

In a brief 10 years, the 1971 Miracle on King Street has been downsized, sanitized, and demoralized by Quebecor.

What a waste, indeed.

Hwy of Heroes

Pete Fisher, a Cobourg-based Sun Media photographer instrumental in the Highway of Heroes movement, is now sharing Canada's combat losses in Afghanistan with the world.

Pete, with little fanfare, assembled dozens of photographs he has snapped in all kinds of weather since 2002 and posted his respectful seven-minute presentation on YouTube on Jan. 1.

The veteran photographer's heartfelt commitment to the troops and their fallen is reflected in his choice of music and the quality of photographs he chose for his tribute.

Pete snapped the photos from 2002 to the summer of 2007 while an Osprey Media employee in Cobourg, and for Sun Media, Osprey's new owner, since the summer of 2007.

The world now has access to the emotions of Canadians grieving the loss of soldiers killed in Afghanistan, which might seem foreign in lands where lives come cheaply.

Well done, Pete. We can only hope there will be no need for solemn gatherings and cameras on the Highway of Heroes in 2009.

TV guide woes

Come Feb. 1, if you don't subscribe to home delivery of the Sunday Sun print edition in the GTA you won't be reading its television guide.

The once proud, prosperous and widely distributed Sunday Sun television guide has been reduced to a home delivery come-on.

Sun Media dropped distribution of the guide in all areas beyond the GTA last year after raising the price of the Sunday Sun in the boondocks to $2.50 - plus tax. Less for more.

On Sunday, the Toronto Sun told readers the TV guide won't be available in papers sold in GTA corner stores, kiosks and newspaper boxes as of Feb. 1 - only to home delivery subscribers.

And home delivery subscribers have to call the Sun to say they want to continue receiving the printed guide.

"At this time, TV Guide availability can only be guaranteed to home delivery subscribers contacting the Toronto Sun and requesting receipt," says the Sunday Sun notice on Page 2.

Say what?

It sounds like the bean counters are hoping few home delivery subscribers will call so they can deep six the print guide to save some more bucks.

Well, pull the plug already.

The Globe and Mail's Friday film/television guide and the Toronto Star's guide on Saturday are getting the job done quite nicely for those who find easily accessible printed guides more convenient.

3-in-1 EIC

Updated 06/01/08

Jose Rodriguez has been appointed editor-in-chief for the Calgary and Edmonton Suns and 24 hours in Sun Media's Alberta urban operations division.

Craig Martin, executive vice-president of Sun Media operations in Western Canada, says in a press release the appointment was effective yesterday.

(The Edmonton Sun says goodbye to Graham Dalziel and hello to Jose in Tuesday's paper.)

The Sun appointment press release reads:

"Craig Martin, Executive VP Operations Western Canada, is pleased to announce that Jose Rodriguez has been appointed Editor-in-Chief Alberta Urban Operations for the Calgary Sun, Edmonton Sun, and 24 hours effective January 4, 2009.

"Jose has been with the Sun newspaper group for 16 years. In that time, he has held various positions ranging from reporter to city editor, news editor to managing editor and is the current editor-in-chief of the Calgary Sun.

"He is an award-winning investigative reporter and has written hundreds of national columns for Sun Media’s editorial opinion pages. He currently writes a national page on mixed martial arts for all the Sun Media and also runs The Scrapyard blog for Canoe.

"Jose is married to wife Nichole and has two children, Michael, 12 and Amelia, 9.

"In his new role he will lead the news rooms with high quality journalism, direct the creation of common content amongst our Alberta papers for stronger and more relevant regional material, and work to meet changing consumer needs and habits both in the newspapers and in the digital universe.

"Jose will be a valuable resource to the management team and will report to the publishers in Calgary and Edmonton with a dotted line to the VP editorial for Sun Media Glenn Garnett.

"Graham Dalziel, editor-in-chief in Edmonton will leave the paper after 30 years to concentrate on his farming operations."

Sounds like Jose is a news guy who has paid his dues. Kinda like Doug Creighton, who started as a police reporter at the Toronto Telegram and worked his way up to CEO.

You tend to have more confidence in and respect for news people running newspapers.

John Kerr's exit

Few outgoing Toronto Sun columnists have had the opportunity in recent years to say goodbye to readers after being axed by Sun Media.

John Kerr, the Sun's popular Outdoors columnist for 27 years, did get to say goodbye in his final column in December, but it quickly vanished from torontosun.com.

Suddenly, John Kerr was missing without a trace after 27 years.

Goodbyes in print are a rarity and when John's readers who missed his farewell column asked about it, TSF decided to track it down.

John's final column reads:

"All journeys involve travelling roads or trails where there is invariably an intersection or at least a Y. Then, choices have to be made whether to continue on or turn in another direction.

"The current global economy is, for the moment, on a crash course, no matter which way it turns. And, for companies around the world, lightening the financial load and putting on the brakes is perceived as being one solution to keeping on firm ground. The publishing industry is no different.

"The Toronto Sun has moved to eliminate some columnists, and, it seems, freelancers first. In short, after 27 years of filling this space, this will be my last column.

"I will leave judging whether this is being penny wise or pound foolish up to company executives and, ultimately, readers.

"It is the end of any Toronto newspaper covering the angling and hunting community on a regular basis (something I have always had pride in the Sun for doing). I hope the latest move is not a further sign of the disconnect between rural and urban society, and how each envisions their connection - or not - to the natural world.

"It’s been a long road for me.

"My first stab at writing on the outdoors for magazines was in 1976. By the late 1970s, I was also a stringer for the Globe and Mail newspaper. At the time, under Editor Bob Rife, the Globe ran two full pages weekly on hunting and fishing, with various contributors.

In 1981, however, I was asked to pen an outdoor column for the Sun and share this space (then a full page or more, with photos) with Ted Gorsline. Soon, I found myself being the sole columnist.

Shortly afterwards, I also accepted a full-time staff position with Ontario Out Of Doors (OOD) magazine, where I served in various capacities as copy editor, fishing columnist, and then executive editor.

"Through both newspaper and magazine, I have had the privilege of serving the angling and hunting community by keeping it informed of the issues and how and where to successfully spend time outdoors.

"Overall, despite continued development destroying wildlife habitat, angling and hunting opportunities continue to remain strong in Ontario through wise management and sustainable-use practices - things I have always espoused in this space.

"I've watched the rebirth of fantastic salmon and trout fisheries in the Great Lakes, after invading sea lamprey nearly wiped out many native species.

"The reintroduction of wild turkeys in the 1980s was been equally successful, with a self-sustaining turkey population now supporting both spring and fall hunts.

"As well, the provincial deer herd has expanded north, offering even more hunting opportunities.

"I will miss producing this column each week, but the journey continues.

"The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters has purchased OOD from Rogers Media. And, I have decided to stay aboard as editor-in-chief.

"With 83,000 members and 655 member clubs, the Peterborough-based Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters is the leading fishing, hunting, and conservation organization in Ontario.

"So, you will see even more of me on the provincial scene in the years ahead.

"Thanks for nearly three decades of loyal readership. See you in the woods and on the water.

"JK."

Re EdSun cuts

An anonymous comment posted re Edmonton Sun cuts and the EIC exiting:

"An addition to your wonderful blog (as a Sun employee in the former Bowes chain that has now been officially 'swallowed' by the parent).

"I'm not sure if the 21 jobs figure is exact at the Sun, although judging from the look of the editions since Black Tuesday, it's probably a safe bet.

"One spot lost was a reporter just over a year into the sports dept. job (I should know, I took his spot at a weekly just outside the city), and at least two spots on the news side, along with several freelancers now toast.

"On the 'plus' side, there's a lot more of that national drivel appearing from those still employed in Ottawa (why? we'll never know).

"As for Graham (Dalziel), he was a huge asset to all of the weeklies around here, aside from the great work he did at the Sun with a much smaller staff than the Journal and dealing with corporate 'bobbleheads' above him.

"He will be missed dearly out here.

"Oh, and to keep the count up, there were at least 60 jobs lost at weeklies in Alberta on Black Tuesday:

- 13 at Spruce Grove/Stony Plain (1 editorial, 1 sales, along with the entire composing dept.);

- publishers at Morinville and Mayerthorpe (Jim Gray has been there since the beginning, more than 30 years);

- 1 front office staff each in Fort Sask. and Sherwood Park;

- 1 editorial staff in Leduc and Leduc's publisher (who was a regional head) resigned (we think that's what it was anyway).

"There's so much instability in the land of prosperity many people (me included) are looking to the dark side to be saved.

"To Quebecor, as Johnny Carson once said - 'May an elephant foot make you sing soprano . . ."

EdSun EIC out

The rumoured exit of Graham Dalziel, the Edmonton Sun's editor-in-chief, has been made official by publisher and CEO David Black.

Dalziel, a Day One Edmonton Sun employee, was rumoured to have resigned over numerous jobs lost at the tabloid on Black Tuesday. (Early reports from sources said Edmonton lost 21 employees.)

The "announcement" to employees from Black reads:

"Graham Dalziel, Editor-in-Chief of the Edmonton Sun has announced he will leave the paper effective January 1, 2009, after 30 years to concentrate on his farming operations.

"Graham said he had a fantastic career at the Edmonton Sun and will really miss all the talented and wonderful people in all departments who made it such a fun place to work for more than 30 years.

"Graham will be missed. He played a big part in the success of the paper over three decades. He led a team that was always one step ahead of the competitor on major stories that made the Edmonton Sun the quality paper it is today.

"Please join me as we wish Graham well in his new career."

Reading between the lines, we'd say Dalziel stood up for his employees and is making his exit in protest. We admire that in management.

Dalziel sounds like a man who would rather shovel shit on his farm than accept the shit emanating from Quebecor.

Did he get a sincere "thanks" in print for his three decades at the Edmonton Sun?

Apparently not.