The Toronto Star's Antonia Zerbisias took a look at the decline and fall of the Sun newspapers in this March 30 column.
... Ever since Quebecor acquired control of the Sun papers in 1998 – in a fierce battle with Torstar, which owns the Star – it's been nothing but bad news for the tabloids.
Some of the chain's news, sports and entertainment pages are now designed in central locations then sent to its nine English-language papers, which include the commuter freebie 24 Hours.
In fact, the Sun papers so closely mirror the successful 24 Hours that rumours persist that they will be merged.
Fears are that the building at 333 King E. will be sold off, and the paper's operations moved into Sun TV's headquarters – ironically, just when its converged idea of local news coverage, Canoe Live, is being cut back to half an hour and bounced to 5:30 p.m. from 6.
That puts Quebecor in clear violation of its conditions of licence, the conditions to which it agreed when it acquired Sun TV from CHUM. According to the station's website, the 6 to 7 p.m. slot will be filled with repeats and U.S. sitcoms.
A call to general manager Don Gaudet was not returned.
As for 333 King, its presses have been rendered obsolete by new operations in Rexdale. Sources say that it's only a matter of time before the downtown building goes silent.
"At the present time, this building is not for sale," was all newly named editor-in-chief Glenn Garnett would say.
The devastation is so widespread that Sun Media's unions have filed complaints with labour boards.
Many of its best and brightest have been pushed out or, more recently, jumped. (Some of them are editing this very column.) This week, columnist Valerie Gibson, known for her cougar and sans-culottes philosophy, was dumped, while ace investigative reporter and author Alan Cairns is leaving the sinking rats because, as confidants say, he feels the ship is going down.
According to union numbers, at least 50 full- and part-time Toronto Sun newsroom positions are gone.
Best estimates are that the once mighty "little paper that could" now has six general assignment reporters, three bureau reporters and three police reporters to cover the GTA 24/7.
That's not a big city newspaper newsroom. That's not even a TV newsroom.
"I can't comment on staffing complement numbers," said Garnett.