Wednesday 15 April 2009

Odds & ends

It's official: Pirates in the Toronto Sun sports department have hijacked prime news space, including the front page, to the detriment of major news coverage. Readers have noticed and are writing letters to the editor.

The Calgary Sun introduced its revamped web site today with "a full slate of Internet bells and whistles." Looking good, less claustrophobic. And what is the top story on the Calgary site? The latest news from Woodstock in the search for missing eight-year-old Victoria "Tori" Stafford.

TSF's Trash talk posting on Sunday has attracted 20 comments about newsroom employees in Peterborough being asked to trash their own garbage. We think the bottom line is PKP's lack of respect for journalists and journalism, i.e. creating sweatshop newsrooms under the guise of tough economic times while bidding for ownership of the Montreal Canadiens.

Fagstein, the Montreal Gazette blogger keeping readers on top of the Journal de Montreal lockout (let us know when year one has passed), takes a look at the synergy of Sun Media. "It’s being described as 'synergy', but it basically means replacing local jobs with fewer, lesser-paid jobs at larger production centres." Fagstein is an in-a-nutshell kind of blogger.

The online heading read: Quebecor to slash up to 111 jobs. Not more media jobs, we thought. No, it is a Quebecor World commercial printing plant in Memphis that is being closed. For the record, the Memphis Daily News story says Quebecor World, now in bankruptcy, has 67 facilities in 26 U.S. states, according to its 2008 annual report.

The Globe and Mail gave John Paton a nod this week for being named Editor & Publisher's Publisher of the Year. "From copy boy to top publisher" says the headline in the Nobody's Business feature.

Online comments at torontosun.com are not moderated, but after viewing an erroneous, slanderous comment about a former Sun employee that remained online for several hours the other day, perhaps they should be. If not moderated, viewed hourly for inappropriate content.

The Sun's online comment notice reads: Comments posted to torontosun.com are not moderated. The Toronto Sun reserves the right to remove all comments that violate these guidelines and/or the Toronto Sun's terms and conditions. By posting a comment on this website, you agree that you will comply with the Toronto Sun's terms and conditions, which may be found here. In particular, you agree that you will not post comments containing defamatory or obscene material or any material prohibited by the laws of Canada.

But what if the terms and conditions are not met. How soon will someone at the Sun notice?

1 comment:

  1. God forbid that a good action shot of a sporting event take up space usually reserved for carnage and destruction.

    ReplyDelete