5-4-5 hockey front

All five Suns went with the same Team Canada hockey photo front Wednesday and Toronto spiced things up with a boob job tax photo.

More of the same today, no doubt, following the Russia win. It took hockey, but Toronto is finally back in the Olympics front mode.

Close to home

For Carla Garrett, a Woodstock Sentinel-Review crime reporter, a story in her newspaper yesterday was too close to home.

The story by Heather Rivers tells of the battle Carla's nine-month-old son, Xavier, is facing after undergoing major brain cancer surgery, with more treatments beginning today.

Carla, who has been on maternity leave from the Sun Media daily, and her husband, Mark, have been through hell for several weeks.

Their son underwent 12 hours of risky brain surgery Feb. 2 and part of a large tumour partially removed proved to be cancerous. Six weeks of chemotherapy treatments begin today at McMaster Children's Hospital in Hamilton.

Xavier and his twin sister, Mackenzie, were born May 31, 2009.

The story says surgeons who removed about 70% of the tumour told Carla and Mark on Feb. 10 Xavier has anaplastic ependymoma, a high-grade aggressive form of brain cancer associated with a mutation of the brain stem.

Doctors say chemotherapy treatments may not be effective in treating ependymoma.

There is more in the Sentinel-Review story, but our bottom line is a trust account has been opened at TD Canada Trust at Springbank Avenue and Dundas Street in Woodstock - Account 630 8634, transit No. 227.

(The TD mailing address is 1000 Dundas Street, Woodstock, ON, N4S 0A3)

Donations will also be accepted at the front desk of the Sentinel-Review.

Money raised will help cover the cost of travel and accommodation during Xavier's treatments.

Over the years, Sun Media staffers and management have been very supportive of fellow employees in times of need, often anonymously.

Our best to Carla, Mark and young Xavier.

Paton & profits

While Sun Media begins handing out apparently meaningless points, John Paton announced a profit sharing plan for Journal Register's 3,100 employees in his first memo as CEO.

Paton, hired by the Toronto Sun as a copy boy in the 1970s, worked his way up to management. He remembers the days when Sun co-founders Doug Creighton, Peter Worthington and Don Hunt rewarded employees with profit sharing.

In his memo, Paton says an advisory board is being set up at the U.S. media chain and adds:

"If we do this right we will become a company of ideas where all employees and our communities debate what’s best for our future. And preserve our cherished role of providing checks and balances.

"And because I believe if we do this right we will become a much more vibrant and profitable company with a dynamic future, I want to make sure all employees share in that future. To that end, we announced on Tuesday the establishment of a profit sharing plan for all employees.

"If the company wins our employees win. We will all win."

Paton includes his e-mail address in the memo, a clear sign he is approachable.

Journal Register employees have been through some tough times in recent years. Paton's memo and profit sharing announcement should promote renewed confidence.

New Q weeklies

Montreal's Fagstein blogger says Quebecor is launching two new French-language weeklies in Quebec, with reporters and ad staff working together.

The blogger wonders if that means reporters will only be writing about businesses and people who advertise in the free Echo de Laval and Echo de la Rive-Nord.

That scenario sounds like PKP's cup of print media tea.

Tiger appeal

Yesterday's Toronto Sun Your Call online poll question was:

Are you interested in what Tiger Woods had to say on Friday?

The tally was 85% No and 15% Yes.

Well, the 15% got their money's worth Saturday. The Sun devoted nine pages, including the front page and the sports section's front page, to Tiger's staged 14-minute apology.

The 85% had nine fewer pages to read.

Yes, world media were watching, but with 85% saying nyet, you have to wonder just how many newspaper readers, television viewers, Internet surfers and radio listeners give a damn.

In a nutshell, Tiger screwed up, he has apologized, now back to the golf course.

Just in case you missed it:

Con con flick?

As Peter Worthington tells it in a column today, annual visits to see Conrad Black behind bars in Florida reveal evidence of a changed man.

"I suspect his two years (so far) in the Coleman Complex have made him a better person, and has certainly improved the lives of some inmates who, without him, would not have the beginnings of an education and a better life they have acquired through him," Worthington writes.

"He seems to get along with everyone. His success in teaching English, and leading political discussions, and lecturing on American history, stems in part from his sense of humour and irreverence - but also because he’s an inmate, too."

As a “teacher,” Conrad Black has shown a patience and empathy that previously one didn’t associate with him, says Worthington.

An interesting, recommended read.

From a Lord and media baron to a low security prison inmate/teacher/columnist affecting the lives of his incarcerated students, that true story has all the makings of a Hollywood movie.

Oscar material.

How the movie would end is another story. Black is awaiting an appeal of his 6 1/2 year sentence.

Front points

We don't want to flog a dead horse, but the Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg Suns all went with Winter Olympics gold fronts on Friday.

The Toronto Sun went with Gordon Lightfoot, 71, not being dead after all, despite Thursday's radio, online news and tweet reports of his demise.

Lightfoot's front page smile delighted longtime fans of the iconic Canadian singer/songwriter, so the front was good for 5 points.

Clearly, the Toronto Sun is not in a Winter Olympics frame of mind. Did the assault on reporter Ian Robertson during the torch run sour editors?

As for comments to TSF about the hometowns of medal winners making a difference in front page news decisions, the athletes are not representing their hometowns or provinces.

They are representing Canada.

Did Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg hesitate because the gold in Friday's front went to Christine Nesbitt, a skater from London, Ontario? Nope.





Winnipeg Sun








Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa same photo/headline

J-Points?

Confirm or deny department:

We thought we had heard it all from TSF tipsters after three years of Sun Media/Quebecor postings, but stop the presses, folks.

A tipster says Sun Media has decided to award performance points to newsroom employees, but the motivation remains unclear.

"I presume it's to compare reporter performance from paper to paper, although it has not been made clear to us," says the tipster.

Reporters earn points for how many stories they file each day. You also get points for things like photos, videos, tweets, briefs, special features.

The tipster provided a partial list of points to be awarded:

A story is 2 points; A photo is 2 points; A brief is .5 points; Special features are 4 points; Columns are 3 points; Videos are 2 points; Web posts are .5 points; "Writethroughs" are .5 points; Tweets are .5 points (minimum 5 tweets).

If Sun Media is serious about this, how will the accumulated points awarded to overworked journalists in understaffed newsrooms be used? Will top performers win a trip to Disneyland? Will bottom performers be shown the door?

It is not clear if the new point system launched in Ontario will become chain-wide or is restricted to selected newsrooms, but one newsroom is one too many in our books.

It sounds humiliating.

Earn those points, people, earn those points.

Shades of Glengarry Glen Ross, especially the last few words in the following YouTube clip.

30 - John Babcock

Today's Kingston Whig-Standard lead by Ian Elliot says it all:

And then there were none.

Elliot is talking about John "Jack" Babcock, Canada's last known First World War veteran, who died Thursday at 109 in Spokane, Wash., two years after regaining Canadian citizenship.

The story says Babcock, born in Holleford north of Kingston in 1900, marched down Princess Street in Kingston on his way to war at age 15. He turned 109 last July.

Elliot does Babcock justice in his lengthy obit.

Olympics spirit?

Wednesday's Sun fronts.

So who had the Winter Olympics spirit with Canada's second gold win Tuesday by snowboard cross competitor Maelle Ricker of North Vancouver?

Well, let's see:




Edmonton Sun (our fave)









Calgary Sun









Winnipeg Sun









Ottawa Sun









Toronto Sun