Make that 13 Sun Media newspapers shuttered since last fall.
The
Crowsnest Pass Promoter in Alberta is toast as of today.
The latest Sun Media
casualtity is said to be a victim of a dispute between the local mayor
and the newspaper.
A blog for former and current employees of the Toronto Sun and siblings to reflect on 40-plus years of life in a word factory, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer.
Posted by
Toronto Sun Family
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22:48
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Posted by
Toronto Sun Family
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00:43
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The Canadian News Hall of Fame will induct Les Pyette and Boris Spremo on Oct. 16 and two more deserving Canadian newspaper giants would be difficult to find.
The Hall of Fame was inactive for more than a decade after its awards dinner in 2001, but they are back and honouring those who have earned the respect of media coast to coast.
An email from Ian Connerty, Chair, Canadian News Hall of Fame:
The Canadian News Hall of Fame is honouring former
Toronto Sun editor and publisher Les Pyette. Les' induction into the
Hall of Fame will take place on October 16, 2013. Attached and below is
more information on the event that you may wish to share with the
Toronto Sun Family. Thank you.
You are
invited to the Annual Induction Ceremony and Dinner for the Canadian
News Hall of Fame on Wednesday October 16, 2013 at 6:00 PM at the
Rosewater Room, 19 Toronto Street.
This
year we have the honour of inducting two Canadian print media giants:
Boris Spremo, legendary Canadian news photographer, formerly with the
Toronto Star, and Les Pyette, former editor and publisher of Sun Media group, the London Free Press and the Toronto
Sun.
Boris and Les will
join last year’s inductees Lloyd Robertson and Andy Walsh along with a
distinguished list of Hall of Fame inductees including: Allan
Fotheringham, Douglas Fisher, June Callwood, Charles Lynch, Trina
McQueen, Peter Worthington, Jocko Thomas, Douglas Creighton and Peter C.
Newman, among others.
Posted by
Toronto Sun Family
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23:11
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A reliable source tells TSF Andre Forget, an award-winning Sun Media photographer for more than 15 years, has been ousted as the chain's national photo editor.
"Forget ((@QMIshooter) covered the Hill ((#CDNpoli) and other national and local news in Ottawa," says the tipster.
Andre's work can be viewed at:
http://www.andreforget.ca/
http://blogs.canoe.ca/eyeonthehill/about-andre-forget/
Now who is Steve White, said to have replaced Andre?
Posted by
Toronto Sun Family
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21:50
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Peter Worthington used to say one of the many events that separated the tabloid Toronto Sun from most other print media was the day Lou Grant, aka Ed Asner, worked the city desk.
Lou, hired by Doug and Peter as senior city editor, arrived in the newsroom on March 23, 1979. City Editor Bob Burt surrendered his chair for the fun day.
We recapped the day in a previous TSF post in 2007 - http://torontosunfamily.blogspot.ca/2007/01/mr-lou-grant.html - but we were not aware a Peter Gross bit with Lou for CITY-TV was posted on YouTube in 2011. It is a must-view for Sun vets. Familiar faces are in the background watching Lou and Peter doing their bit.
We are not sure who posted the CITY-TV clip, but many thanks. It brings back memories of a day in the Sun that is still talked about more than 30 years later.
BTW: How many Sun types in the background can you identify?
Posted by
Toronto Sun Family
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02:27
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Posted by
Toronto Sun Family
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18:11
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Make that 12.
Twelve Sun Media newspapers shuttered since last fall. The latest casualty this week - the Dresden-Bothwell Leader-Spirit in Southern Ontario.
Not a large newspaper, but community to the hilt with solid advertising support as we discovered in this online copy of a printed issue from April:
http://issuu.com/sunmediachatham/docs/leader_spirit_apr._13
Twenty pages. Solid community effort. Sad that effort is not worthy of Sun Media's stable of newspapers.
If this is a Sun Media link, it might soon be deleted, as was the link to the newspaper's website.
The Leader-Spirit doesn't have a history of 100 or so years, as many of the Sun Media casualties had, but it did have devoted readers and advertisers.
Internet sources say The Dresden Leader, originally known as the North Kent Leader, was founded in 1965 by Ted Misselbrook and Gord Clauws. The Spirit of Bothwell was launched in 1992 by Jim Kish. They merged in 2008.
As we've suggested before, independent dailies and weeklies owned and managed by many of the hundreds of laid off media employees could be the answer for journalists, advertisers and readers.
Print is where the money is and not all advertisers and readers have abandoned the format. To appease generations young and old, quality community print/online newspapers out of the grasps of out-of-touch conglomerates make sense.
That is why we are rooting for the Chatham Voice, recently launched and sounding like a keeper.
Sitting here thinking of the very talented Sun people pink-slipped over the past two decades leaves us wondering why more of the men and women haven't launched independent newspapers.
We'd subscribe to any community newspaper offering the talents of Mark Bonokoski (Bancfoft), John Downing (Toronto), Gary Dunford (wherever he hangs his hat), Moira MacDonald (Toronto), Bill Brioux (Brampton) etc.
The writers, photographers, editors and execs out there wondering what to do next would do justice to communities abandoned, or neglected, by the conglomerates.
All you have to do is commit to the "community" 100%, working there, living there, eating there, playing there.
Posted by
Toronto Sun Family
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05:22
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