Gannet going totally digital

[DannyCox]

I still get my Montreal Gazette and National Post delivered daily. My morning ritual is to sit down, relax, have a couple of cups of coffee, and read both rags. Once I'm done, I'm ready to start my day.

The thing I hate is the things the papers are doing now with their "Web Extras"! Just give me it there and then. I really can't be bothered to read the paper, then go on-line to get the sidebar content! That pisses me off and it may cause them to loose yet another customer.

I worked for TorSun Publishing for many years; before, during and after my university days. Like our industry, there is networking and you get to know many people. Some of the guys I worked with at the Edmonton Sun 30 years ago are working here in Montreal and we still meet for beers every couple of months. What is really killing revenue (aside from the drop in circulation) is the loss of classified ads in the newspapers. With places like Craigslist and Kijiji, why would anyone bother with paying for an ad in a paper with limited readership. The real money-maker in the rag trade was those little ads as the per inch rate is just so damn high when compared with anything else in the paper.