Print Vs. The Net

Exhibit A in the argument that Sun Media print newspapers tower over the Internet is a chart showing Quebecor Inc.'s 2003-2008 performance.

It was created by a reliable TSF source using Quebecor's own financials fed through Excel to see just how 'badly'' the newspaper segment was performing.

[...]

"Although it may not be apparent from looking at the chart, the Internet/Portals segment and Interactive Technologies and Communications reported profits in all the years from 2003 to 2008," says the source. "However, they are so small in comparison to the newspaper profits that they barely register on the chart.

Very small profits for the online unit, it's true, but the cost of producing a web-page vs. producing a paper product must be far less as well. A couple more years of data will tell the story better.

News On The Net: Cheap = Shoddy

What's wrong with this picture? "A tragic story, handled ineptly," according to the Sun Family Blog.Probably the most egregious thing is using a shot of the Rockies in summer for an avalanche story. Conclusion:

As a former Sun staffer who was constantly told we're cutting staff in newsrooms to populate the website, only to see the website understaffed by the cheapest staff possible, front pages like this seem like poetic justice. Obviously, you do get what you pay for.

And, oh yeah, this picture still hasn't been changed.

News You Can Abuse

Look out Natty Post; look out, Mop and Pail. Your competition has arrived. There's a new national (on-line newspaper) in town. It's called The Canadian and it boasts of being both "socially progressive" and "cross cultural".

This week's lead story is "Roman Catholic Church Vatican Insider leaks Information about an Extraterrestrial Presence", which details

... inside information about a clandestine meeting in 1954 at California’s Muroc Air Force Base (later named Edwards AFB) involving President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Los Angeles Bishop James Francis McIntyre and an extraterrestrial delegation.

Other ground-breaking stories include "Ancient Gnostic disciples of Jesus reveal reasons for Extraterrestrial Denial in Western society", an analysis of why mainstream science continues to deny "the historical and on-going existence of Extraterrestrial contact with human beings on Earth"; a discussion of the NDP's capitulation to "transnational union interests"; news of a software program that helps you to seduce women (I've already ordered my copy); a profile of
U.F.O expert and once-Deputy Prime Minister Paul Hellyer (do you see a theme emerging?); an item on how the Tory spin machine has played the PM's Afghanistan visit; predictions of global climate catastrophe by a guy who submitted his dissertation to Tony Blair (Tony Blair liked it!); and "Home buying tips for homebuyers".

This is surely the news as BigCityLib would tell it, and The Canadian will definitely become one of the regular stops on my daily walk through the on-line media world. In fact, I'm not sure it will be necessary to read another newspaper, ever again.