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Publisher of Frank to leave magazine

Friday, September 10, 2004 - Page A6

The publisher of Frank is expected to announce shortly that he is leaving the troubled satirical magazine for a job as yet unspecified.

Fabrice Taylor, a former business columnist with The Globe and Mail, assumed control of the magazine in the summer of 2003, supported by a group of anonymous Toronto investors.

A new editor-in-chief is expected to be named before Mr. Taylor's departure, replacing Kim Honey, who was named to the post in December last year and was let go in August. Staff
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Here is a paragraph from a Spring 2004 Ryerson Review of Journalism article entitled Let's Be Frank:

"It is now January, 2004, and for five months I've been watching the dead cat bounce - or at least its aftermath. "Dead cat bounce" is a term used in stock markets to describe the final, futile upsurge of a declining stock. In Frank's case it was the freakish spike in sales after Taylor published his first issue, number 414, in October 2003. Since that one brief, floating moment, the gossipy cat has been in free fall."

I can't say I was enamoured with the new Frank. They did some decent work, like on Paul Champagne (the ex-DND employee alleged to be involved in a $160-million scam).

But there were also some media stories where I thought Taylor's and Honey's backgrounds would serve them well. Alas, there was no more added inside dirt than there would be in a mainstream news story.

Some people I've talked to thought the new Frank lacked a certain joie de bitchiness.

But under the tenure of Michael Bate, Frank's circulation had also fallen from 1990s highs.

Is it a content problem, or is there no economically viable market in Canada any more for a scurrilous little gossip mag?

Bill Doskoch
Toronto, ON