While the merits of anti-scrab legislation are argued in a parliamentary hearing in Quebec this week, The Link looks at the human toll in the two-year Journal de Montreal lockout.
It is a matter of dollars and sense, as in common sense.
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Derek Pyne retires
Derek Pyne, Sun Media's publisher of the year for 2005, has retired as publisher of the Sherwood Park-Strathcona County News in Alberta.
Pyne was with the News on and off since 1992, starting in sales. He was publisher of the Edson Leader from 1994 to 2007, when he returned to the News as publisher.
A lengthy News story says Pyne was at the helm when the weekly papers Strathcona County This Week and Sherwood Park News merged into a twice-weekly paper.
Pyne was a Nipawin, Saskatchewan, florist and hockey player before getting into the newspaper business and his approach to community news is credited for his success in print media.
"What I'll remember about Derek is the enthusiasm and joy he brought to the job every day," former colleague Tyler Waugh says in the story. "He loves community newspapers and his commitment and passion for the gig just had a way of rubbing off on those around him."
Sun Media says Stacey Proskiw, the News' first female publisher, is stepping in to fill Derek's shoes while retaining her job as the newspaper's sales manager.
OT: Ups, downs
Once upon a merry time, Canadians would buy a television set, plug it in and not have any additional costs until it was repair time.
Then along came cable, satellite and all of the other home entertainment bells and whistles and "free" TV for all but antenna holdouts now costs $400 on up depending on consumer demands.
And the conglomerates that control the airwaves are forever nickel and diming consumers with the full support of the CRTC.
So what's new this week?
Bell has tacked on another $2 or so for its satellite customers, pushing the basic, plus one theme pack, to almost $50 per month - or $600 a year.
And, thanks to the CRTC, the Teksavvy Internet service we fled to in 2009 after three months of calls to India and other Bell Hell, announced it must reduce its cap to 25 gigs, down from 200, as of March 1.
Leave it to government control to corrupt the spirit of the Internet.
For the past couple of years, newspapers, TV networks, movie distributors, social networks, YouTube and other Internet draws have increased our access needs.
Teksavvy was a blessing after Bell, with its 24-hour service in fluent English direct from Chatham, Ontario, dependable service, the freedom of 200 gigs per month and a telephone/ISP package that trimmed $40 a month off the bill.
In a nutshell, Teksavvy has been providing the kind of independent service all Canadians deserve but are not getting via the arrogant, fat cat conglomerates who have lost touch with their customers.
Teksavvy is not happy with the CRTC decision to reduce the cap to 25 gigs and is encouraging its growing customer base to be vocal, sign petitions etc.
We salute Teksavvy.
Teksavvy is not happy with the CRTC decision to reduce the cap to 25 gigs and is encouraging its growing customer base to be vocal, sign petitions etc.
We salute Teksavvy.
Meanwhile, Bell's attitude about its service, from our experience, is take it or leave it.
The more they nickel and dime customers for inflexible TV channel choices and frustrating outsourced calls to India, chances are more people will leave it for an antenna, the Internet or TV-free environments.
Did we say the Internet? With the 25-gig cap at the basic rate, paying more to watch our weekly quota of television and movies on the Internet won't be economical.
Internet surfing and television viewing are becoming elitist pastimes in the 21st century.
Monday, 31 January 2011
Sun colours
The people in charge of the crayons at the Toronto Sun should reconsider colour schemes in ads and stories that induce eye strain.
Print newspaper customers should not have to make an effort to read text, but that has been the case with the ill-advised use of some colours.
The Casa Loma ad on page 70 of the Sunday Sun is a classic example of poor colour coordination. If it was a Sun display ad department creation, we'd ask for a refund or deep discount.
There have also been feature articles and story sidebars in the Sun that have turned reading into a chore.
The Toronto Sun championed the use of colour in the late 1970s. It still excels, but quality control is occasionally lacking when it comes to ease of reading the paper.
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Rural readers
Are the days of Sun Media newspaper deliveries to areas beyond their community borders coming to an end?
Could readers beyond the GTA soon lose the option of buying the Toronto Sun print edition at a premium price in local retail outlets?
News this week that the Peterborough Examiner is eliminating delivery to retail outlets in Port Hope, Cobourg and beyond could be a new trend in Sun Media penny-pinching.
The Examiner has advised Port Hope retailers:
"Thank you for your support of The Peterborough Examiner throughout the years.
"Due to rising costs of distribution, gas and car maintenance, we will no longer be servicing your area.
"As of Monday January 31, 2011, you will no longer receive The Peterborough Examiner in your store."
A TSF tipster says readers of the daily beyond the Peterborough distribution area can still order it by mail. Same day delivery? Doubt it.
Or they can pocket the $1.25 per printed edition and read the limited online version for free.
Another tipster says the Lindsay Post has also reduced its daily retail distribution area.
So there could come a day when the convenience of picking up the Toronto Sun's print edition beyond the GTA will be a memory.
Ditto for all of the other Sun Media newspapers across the chain.
Readers who do not find online newspapers their cup of tea won't be happy, but keeping the print customer satisfied isn't a Sun Media priority.
Meanwhile, advertisers face reduced exposure in tough economic times.
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Examiner woes
Retail outlets out Cobourg-Port Hope way have been told the Peterborough Examiner will no longer be distributed to outlets in their area beginning Monday.
That is sure to tick off Peterborough advertisers who have drawn a lot of business from Cobourg and Port Hope over the decades.
It's just another dagger in the once proud Examiner, a newspaper that has been published since 1847 but has been sliding since Osprey Media was purchased by Quebecor in 2007.
A TSF tipster writes:
"Five drivers in rural areas have lost their runs as the Examiner has decided to mail papers to subscribers in rural areas. How would you like your daily paper two days late? Not going to be good for subscriber numbers."
A TSF tipster writes:
"Five drivers in rural areas have lost their runs as the Examiner has decided to mail papers to subscribers in rural areas. How would you like your daily paper two days late? Not going to be good for subscriber numbers."
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
It was written 2
The countdown to the Toronto Sun's 40th anniversary this Nov. 1 continues.
More tidbits from its birth from Ron Poulton's 1976 book Life in a Word Factory:
(Eaton) Howitt didn't get a clear look at the Sun's city room until 48 hours after he had started running for his new employers.
When he got the chance to settle in, he found that the sports department consisted of one small room containing three desks for five people. The copy was being marked on an orange crate in a corner. Three reporters were writing and two couldn't sit down.
Sun sports editor George Gross and the rest of his staff began coping with these surroundings at 9 a.m. on that Sunday when Howitt's cup of loneliness was running over in New York (his last Tely sports assignment).
. . . Outside the Sun building, future executives and a horde of hastily recruited kids were running upstairs, downstairs and all around the town. The children blitzed apartment houses with a letter signed by Doug Creighton to announce the coming of The Toronto Sun.
"At the same time," Creighton said, "the rest of us were slapping Sun stickers on Tely boxes and spraying as many of them as we could with paint. We even managed to move some of the boxes to the right side of the street to accommodate the in-bound traffic."
When the edited news copy began to flow, Gross found he had to share the Sun's entire fleet of cars (two Volkswagens and a Cadillac) in order to get his sports copy to the Inland Publishing Company presses in Mississauga, 20 miles across the city.
Niagara - 5
Four art department staffers in the Niagara area were painted out of the Sun Media picture yesterday, says a tipster.
Gone are two in St. Catharines, one in Welland and another in Niagara Falls, says the tipster.
Any names or years of service?
Meanwhile, another source says entertainment/arts reporter Lori Littleton of the St. Catharines Standard has notified local arts groups she is gone from the paper this week.
No reason for her departure, but one tipster says it was her decision.
Monday, 24 January 2011
Journal No. 2
As anniversaries go, today's second anniversary of the Journal de Montreal lockout of 253 employees isn't one to celebrate.
Coverage: CBC - Toronto Star (CP)
Friday, 21 January 2011
Citizen photos
Former Toronto Sun vet Bill Sandford tells TSF:
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2011/01/21/16980081.html
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