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Sale of Post would "change the face of journalism in this country"
August 7, 2008
- Posted by
 In his column today, The Globe and Mail's Lawrence Martin considers the impact the possible sale of the National Post would have on debate in Canada. The Globe recently published an article outlining CanWest's financial woes and reporting that a group led by Senator Jerry Grafstein has been looking to put together a bid for the Post. Martin then wonders how this would play out in both political and journalistic circles. The right-wing news approach of the Post is the mark of the paper's former owner Conrad Black, but should a Liberal Senator take over, Martin says, "it would substantially alter the face of journalism in the country." He writes: "If his [Grafstein's] bid succeeds, if Liberals get their hands on the Post, down would go the Conservative Party's media flagship, its ideological promo sheet. It would be like the Liberals losing the Toronto Star." Martin notes that the bid "appears to be a long shot" but says a new owner could attempt to change the paper to suit today's markets: "Although it would be a daunting task, a new proprietor could conceivably retool the Post to make it more viable in today's difficult newspaper market. The Post's Texas-styled ideology has been a nice fit for Alberta, but it has had trouble finding a growing audience east of Moose Jaw. Its difficulties were compounded by its inability to keep star performers such as Mark Steyn, Andrew Coyne, Christie Blatchford and Paul Wells." Meanwhile, in a blog response to the original Globe article about CanWest, Paul Well's at Maclean's wonders how the logistics of a Post purchase would really work and whether it makes any sense. He writes: "...it’s hardly clear how the surgery would work. The Post comes attached to a country-wide (well, Montreal on westward) chain of newspapers, and it has announced a divorce from the Canadian Press news-gathering collective. Neither the Post nor other member papers have autonomous reporting staff in Ottawa any more; a new Post buyer would basically have to staff Ottawa up from zero, or allow CanWest News Service to make most staffing and coverage decisions for the paper, which calls into question the logic of a purchase, if there ever was any such logic." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I agree with Peter. The National Post is pathetic... Unfortunately the dozen odd local papers, plus all the other local dailies and free dailies owned by Canwest aren't much better.
Nice to see that most commentators still have no idea what the words "liberal" and "left" mean. If the National Pest goes belly up (oh please, oh please....) Canada will still be stuck with a spectrum of newspapers that mindlessly supports the worst consumerist tendencies of capitalism.
It would be tragic if the Post was bought or taken over by yet another 'liberal' group in Canada.
It is a paper which must be helped continue because it does not only publish politically one sided views of special interest Canadian groups, and by doing so is truthful to what journalism is - the rest.!!!
Do we all get why people buy the Post.
If it is not there another paper like it will take its place.
Thankfully we still have some good and honest journalists left in Canada.
Let's hope that a conservative finds the cash to buy it, if it really is for sale. God knows we have enough liberal papers already.