Another newspaper (a free weekly) is coming to Toronto. No, it won't be hiring any photographers.
It appears that the Toronto Star has bought(?)
a franchise of
The Onion. (Hmm, a print version of a web site. There's a novel idea).
According to The Onion, it supplies all content and the franchisee, in this case the Star, just inserts locals ads. However, rather than have 100% made-in-the-USA content only,
The Onion president said it will source some Toronto content from freelance writers.
And that ends the educational part of the program.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
When will newspapers discover that humour sells? Especially online! Canadian newspapers have bungled opportunity after opportunity at improving their products (text, video and podcasts).
TorStar couldn't figure this out on its own? It had no choice but to give up and import content from the US?
There are tons of first-rate Canadian writers who *excel* not just at comedy but also at creating humourous views of current events. Yet, newspapers have refused to do anything with them.
The Walrus seems to have
finally clued in. While the site itself is rather
crappy spartan, look at some of the author names on that site.
Without knowing the agreement between the two companies, it's impossible to guess the future of this new Toronto Star-Onion publication. Nevertheless, I suspect that the Star could make more money – and consistent money – by getting rid of its pesky photographers' parking lot
and putting in a Tim Hortons franchise. Meaning, buying an
onion isn't the answer.
If Sun Media/Quebecor had any brains at all, it would immediately replace its useless TV news programming with a comedy news channel. Yes, there's a joke to be had here, so I'll wait for the snickering to stop.
Sun TV News is just the same old, meaningless TV talk news. Doesn't it know that the best way to push a political agenda is not by having talking heads yell about nothing but rather, by the use of comedy. Examples: Rick Mercer, Jon Daily, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, Dennis Miller and Lewis Black.
Confronting your audience never, ever works. But making them laugh always does. If you want to stir the pot, it's always easier if that pot isn't already boiling. Otherwise, you risk burning yourself.
If you want to sell more newspapers or get more web hits, don't fill your pages with "content". Instead, incite the readers to be (more) curious and inquisitive: challenge the reader, interest the reader, create anticipation, make it fun.
Someday, newspapers may wake up and realize that they *are* competing with TV, at least online. Maybe then, newspapers will understand the true value and purpose of multimedia. Newspapers need a programming director(s) for their web site. A web designer, newspaper editor, publisher or corporate CEO is wrong for this job.
Newspapers should also hire a behavioral psychologist, but that's another post.
Newspapers have an easy(?) choice:
(a) Lower the value of its journalism, lower the intelligence of its reporting & photography, lower its respect for its readers and go for the lowest common denominator. Yes, this can be a successful formula. For example: the UK's
Mail Online is about to become the world's number one news site.
or
(b) Remember why newspapers exist. Remember what journalism is about. Even though the distribution of information has changed and even though the techniques for news gathering has changed, the reason why people read the news has not.
One of these choices is an uphill battle and you need to peddle. The other is downhill and you can coast.
There isn't a business around that coasted to long term success.
Topic: New Toronto newspaper (Read 3536 times)