The Toronto Star's Antonia Zerbisias on the effects of the Quebecor starvation diet on the Toronto Sun.
As I type this, a newly converged "Sun Media" entertainment writer is burbling on Sun TV's Canoe Live about Sunday's Oscars extravaganza with what looks to be a graveyard of a newsroom in the background.
That newsroom used to vex the Star's newsroom. It was a serious rival for your time and attention – and it kept our reporters on the run.
No more.
The Toronto Sun is now an emaciated thing, having been put on a starvation diet by Québecor, which acquired it in 1999.
This month, the Sun and its sister papers – in London, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary – got thinner still. It was inevitable of course. Dozens of jobs were cut last year, although exact numbers are hard to come by due to bumping.
Now the Suns share a national affairs page, a world page, as well as entertainment, lifestyle and money sections. Even the op-eds are shared, although there's space for some local columns.
So much for local coverage and diversity of opinion.