From the deck to the Globe and Mail story: "Weak economy, changing consumer habits and online competition brews perfect storm for media companies."

The Globe and Mail's Ian Brown takes a somewhat snarky look at the Cassandras of our time.

I'll focus on his remarks about celebrity doomsayer Niall Ferguson, who was in top form in Tuesday's Globe.

From AP via CTV.ca:

Afghanistan's interior minister says there may be between 10,000 and 15,000 Taliban fighting inside his country, and the insurgent group is operating across about 17 provinces.

Mohammad Hanif Atmar offered a rare estimate of the size of his government's most organized and potent opponent during a visit to Washington.

So, the Afghan government has released information about something secret!

To get my reference, check out this Sept. 2, 2008 post: Taliban numbers probably up: former Cdn. ambassador to Afghanistan.

This is going to be a grim day for the history books in Denver.

The Rocky Mountain News will publish its last edition a few months shy of its 150th birthday.

Here's a Poynter.org post.

Robert Niles, editor of Online Journalism Review and a former RMN staffer, tweeted that he will have a post up in the a.m.

@100000words has the following contest going: Have you submitted your pick for the song that best describes the state of journalism? Winner gets a $25 Amazon GC http://tinyurl.com/ak6wdb

Here's my pick:

Why? Maybe it's the pints from earlier this evening talking, but the notion of an island civilization of poets and explorers doomed to sink beneath the waves, to live on only in legend, seems an apt metaphor for these troubled times.

"And as the elders of our time choose to remain blind, let us rejoice, and sing, and dance, and ring in the new -- Hail Atlantis!"

Gary Numan in the pretty-much-unavailable-but-not-forgotten film Urgh! A Music War. It fits my mood this evening, so here you go:

Marilyn Manson and the Foo Fighters, to name two, have covered this song. But I like this version.

From AP via CTV.ca:

Antarctic glaciers are melting faster than previously thought, which could lead to an unprecedented rise in sea levels, scientists said Wednesday.

From the Feb. 24 Globe and Mail:

Two leading credit rating agencies are taking a grimmer view of CanWest Global Communications Corp., downgrading the company's debt and scaling back estimates on what lenders can expect to recover if the company defaults on its $3.9-billion in loans.

The CBC is expecting a revenue shortfall this budget year, one related to the plunging ad revenues affecting all media companies. But the really scary thing is coming up with a budget for 2009-10.

From The Globe and Mail:

The Bloc Québécois is asking the federal government to protect a Globe and Mail reporter from being forced to provide information about the source who helped him unveil the sponsorship scandal.

From AP via TheStar.com:

An international team of climate experts has taken a new look at the threat of global warming, and they do not like what they see.

The Earth will not have to warm up as much as had been thought to cause serious consequences, including more extreme weather and increasing threats to plants and animals, the scientists report in this week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Sometime after the stock market collapse of last fall, I remember reading somewhere that the markets usually start taking flight about a month after a new U.S. president is sworn in.

Fortunately, instead of investing in the stock market based on that advice, I pissed away $2 on a Lotto 6/49 ticket last Saturday. As a result, I'm only down two bucks.

As for Monday, however, the North American markets tanked.

I was out for a few pints earlier this evening. The DJ/bartender played some Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. In honour of that excellent choice, I offer the following:

From CP via TheStar.com:

The Waterloo Region Record and Hamilton Spectator daily newspapers are laying off about seven per cent of their employees.

In the Record's case, that amounts to about 20 employees.

At the Spectator, the paper is cutting the equivalent of about 30 full-time positions, although the layoffs affect 35 people in full time, part-time and contract positions.

Record publisher Paul McCuaig says most of the jobs at his newspaper were in the editorial and advertising departments, including about 10 newsroom jobs.

Both he and Spectator publisher Dana Robbins attribute the cuts to the recession, which has affected advertising sales.

Both papers are part of Metroland Media, a division of Torstar Corp. (TS.B).

The NYT's Frank Rich suspects they don't -- or about a lot of other unpleasant topics.

Rupert Murdoch is undoubtedly one of history's great media barons, but his attachment to newspapers is making him look more 19th than 21st century in the eyes of many analysts.

Another newspaper company hobbled by debt that resulted from corporate wheeling and dealing has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Toronto Star public editor Kathy English looks at the paper's reference to sharia law in a story about a Buffalo Muslim man who decapitated his wife.

Globe and Mail Update published this Friday memo from CanWest CEO Leonard Asper to his troops, some of whom are feeling very secure:

1. We are in the midst of a very structured process that has a number of checkpoints. Getting a financial agreement with our lenders is one of those checkpoints as is potentially selling some assets (such as the recent announcement about our secondary conventional network), reducing our cost structures and finding new sources of revenue. We are currently gathering information and examining any number of options so we can make good, sound business decisions that are in the best interests of Canwest shareholders and employees over the long-term.

2. In all the media coverage what is often overlooked is that Canwest's businesses are highly profitable and generate well over $500-million a year in operating profits. Our issue is that in this recession, those profits have been reduced by a serious downturn in revenue so our “mortgage” is too high for our lenders liking.

3. Regardless of the paths that we follow, these businesses are strong. They will continue to operate and need talented people to keep them strong. We still have to produce newspapers, web pages and television programs and these all need to be supported with advertising. From what I can see, we are doing this as well, if not better than anyone out there right now.

And there's more.

The one part he left out is CanWest's (CGS-T) closing price on the TSX on Friday - $0.35. That's Nortel country.

Vancouver Sun managing editor Kirk LaPointe made the following observation on Twitter yesterday about Obamarama:

Twitter surly/superficial on Obama's Cdn visit, no better than msm. No access, period. News conf will be Twitter-better.

I later replied with the following:

Since Twitter is conversational, why wouldn't it lean more to entertainment than informational value?

He didn't deign to grant that observation the dignity of a reply, but personally, I would hope the MSM would be much better than Twitter.

There is a limit to how much quality observation you can expect from what can, at times, be an online cocktail party.

From The Globe and Mail:

Leonard Asper is scrambling to secure a financial lifeline for CanWest Global Communications Corp. before the end of the month to prevent his family-run media empire from sliding into bankruptcy protection.

Yet even if he is successful, the price of that lifeline could be steep. Some potential investors — including Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. — want to seize control of the company from the Asper family in exchange for any cash infusion.

At least one investor weighing a proposal said it would insist that Mr. Asper step aside as chief executive officer and that he and his siblings eliminate the dual-class share structure that gives them control of the company, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Officials at some of CanWest's main creditors believe that if the company cannot find access to hundreds of millions of dollars in new credit within the next few weeks, it could be forced to seek protection from lenders and restructure under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. CanWest, which owes $3.9-billion, and its primary adviser, RBC Dominion Securities, have approached numerous institutional investors to gauge their interest in a deal.

Three men on trial for their support roles in the murder of crusading Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya have been acquitted by a jury.

An admitted catch-up post: On Tuesday, lawyers representing a number of media organizations tried to convince the Supreme Court of Canada that this country's libel and defamation laws are in serious need of updating.

My CTV.ca colleagues took a look at how the U.S. media handled their president's brief sojourn north of the border.

HL - U.S. media has mishaps, some fun with Obama visit:

Several U.S. journalists blogged about the trip to Ottawa.

Christina Bellantoni, a Washington Times reporter who travelled to Ottawa with the presidential press pool, wrote about her experience on micro-blogging website Twitter.

Among a few of her comments: "Eating croissant - definitely more delicious in Canada than the States" and "(White House) staffer to press as we arrive at Parliament: 'Okay, guys, don't embarrass our country.'"

To any U.S. (or other) journalistic colleague visiting Toronto, or even if you live here but you're looking for a good croissant, may I suggest the following:

• Clafouti - approx. Queen St. W. and Strachan Ave.
• Wagamama - King St. W. and Tecumseth
• Bonjour Brioche - Queen St. E. and DeGrassi St.
• Rahier - Bayview Ave. south of Eglinton Ave. E. (1586 Bayview Ave.)

Addendum

Globeandmail.com had a similar story this morning: 'How the U.S. media saw the visit to Canada'