It takes a while to digest the sale the other day of Canada’s English-language Sun newspapers to Postmedia. All you can say for sure is that the newspaper market in Canada continues to implode. Postmedia President and CEO Paul Godfrey provided the answer at the announcement of the $316 million purchase of 175 English-language newspapers and Sun’s major printing plant in Toronto. He said it all when saying the best part of the deal was the acquisition of Canoe.ca and related websites.
Sun newspapers are no stranger to Paul Godfrey. He used to be publisher of that newspaper chain. The only difference is that Postmedia papers such as the National Post and the Ottawa Citizen are more literate than the Sun products. We always assumed that the Toronto Sun and Sun newspapers were written for people who moved their lips as they read. They hardly faired better after Quebecor took them over. With Pierre-Karl Péladeau at the helm, they lacked the ethical, spelling, grammar and general quality standards that Canadians have a right to expect.
The best example of the problem was a few years back when a senior reporter for the local Sun-owned daily wrote something about a snow ‘plough.’ He was questioned as to why he would use a spelling that was changed 25 years before by Canadian Press to ‘plow’? He explained that nobody at his newspaper cared. And he also proudly explained that nobody ever bothered to edit his stories.
And that is also why nobody in this city really cares about our local daily. Sun Media has destroyed what little quality standards that local paper ever had. The only reason that it is still produced is because of the synergies of scale that allowed the papers to be printed so cheaply in Toronto. (It is also why the smaller Sun newspapers are predominantly located in Ontario.)
But things will change. Once the toothless federal competition bureau has had its say in a few months, change will happen. It will not be for the betterment of readers. All Paul Godfrey’s promises will be re-opened. Cost savings will be the first consideration; regaining quality and circulation will be the last.
And Canadians’ knowledge and understanding of their communities, their provinces, their country and the world will continue to suffer. Broadcast news can never replace the ability to self-edit masses of well-written and reasonably accurate information that newspapers have tried to provide for hundreds of years.
After all, the Internet may be interesting but a blog is just some chucklehead’s opinion.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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