Hostel 2 Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews writer-director Eli Roth about Hostel 2

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National Magazine Awards still and moving photo gallery

The National Magazine Awards has posted a flurry of pix from the awards reception and the presentation and has also posted a webshow.

Quebecor asks court to forbid Osprey Media from accepting higher bid

Quebecor Inc. is asking the courts to forbid Osprey Media Income Fund from considering or dealing with takeover bids from anyone else. This is aimed directly at the Torstar-backed bid by Black Press Ltd. of Victoria to up the ante for the Osprey newspapers and magazines; it topped the Quebecor bid by $1 a unit. Quebecor's application will be heard -- and defended -- at the Superior Court of

Tobacco ads may be coming back to Canadian magazines

A ruling against the tobacco industry in the Supreme Court may mean that tobacco advertising, missing from magazines for years (a ban held partly responsible for the final demise pf the so-called weekend "roto" magazines like Today) may re-emerge, according to a story in the Globe and Mail.In striking down the tobacco industry's appeal to remove an advertising ban yesterday, the Supreme Court

Ontario Tory leader Tory says he'd prohibit Food & Drink from selling ads

Of course it is pre-election time, but the Ontario Progressive Conservative leader John Tory has made a commitment that, if elected, he would prohibit the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) and its magazine Food and Drink from competing with the private sector for the sale of magazine advertising. He made the statement as part of a wider announcement about arts and culture support that the

Finkle subpoena in Baltovich case quashed as "a fishing expedition"

Derek Finkle, lately the editor of Toro magazine (or is that, the editor of the late Toro?) has won his case in court to quash a Crown subpoena for all his notes made in pursuit of his 1998 book No Claim to Mercy about the murder of Elizabeth Bain, in 1990. Prosecutors wanted to use Finkle's research as preparation for the retrial of Robert Baltovich, accused of murdering Bain in 1990 (she was

Message from participants in magazine conferences: kiss and make up

[NOTE: This post has been updated.] We promised to report on the results of the online questionnaire, asking readers to give their views about the two magazine conferences that took place this past month -- Magazines University and MagNet: Canada's Magazine Conference.According to the latest information available, the attendance at the two conferences was:Magazines University (according to the

Scream kicks off with Matrix launch and two challenging panels

The Scream Literary Festival, now in its 15th year, is hosting two inspiring events in Toronto as part of its July 3 to 9th run. "As always," they say, "the festival reaches its boiling point with The Scream in High Park, Canada's largest single-night outdoor reading, on July 9."(Both events may be interesting not only to literary and cultural magazine publishers but also to their hard-pressed

Osprey Media Income Fund still in play and the price keeps going up

The sale of newspaper and magazine company Osprey Media Income Fund looked like a slam dunk for Quebecor Media, leaving a bruised Torstar group sulking in the corner. Torstar and Quebecor have been squabbling about who did what to whom and about whether or not they had a deal to split up the Osprey properties, which include well-known dailies like the St. Catharines Standard and the Kingston

Scientific American gives its redesigned July issue away as a download

The venerable magazine Scientific American has redesigned and is offering is July issue free as a download to let potential readers see what they've done. You only have five days to get the dowload by going here.Editor-in-chief John Rennie says that they've kept all that's good (what redesigning editor doesn't say this, mind you?) and made some substantial improvements."...mindful of the demands

Taking a summer plunge on digi-mags at Time Inc.

"It's just a nice, fun bonus that we're offering our consumer." -- Time Inc. group publisher Paul Caine, referring to the digital online "one-shot test" edition of People magazine. A story in Ad Age says that Time Inc. executives are keeping expectations low about the test because no one knows how well such digital initiatives will do. (A lot of people working for the corporation are wondering,

1408 Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews co-writer Matt Greenberg and co-writer team Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski about 1408

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Not for profit mags in Ontario need to look at proposed changes

Many smaller magazines operate in Ontario as not-for-profit corporations. It will be of interest to them that the Ontario government's Ministry of Government Services is undertaking a public consultation on the renovation and reform of the Ontario Corporations Act. It has possible implications and magazine publishers may wish to read the government's discussion document and make comments before

Wired frames 5,000 subscribers

The first 5,000 subscribers to Wired magazine who responded to an offer in its April issue are now receiving a personalized July issue -- personalized, that is, with their picture on the cover. According to a New York Times story, Wired, in partnership with Xerox, invited readers to upload their pictures to a web site; it appears on the cover of the issues with the headline "You Are Here". The

Magazine and newspaper trade deficit with U.S.has grown 18% since 2000

Canada's balance of trade deficit with the United States in newpapers and periodicals (magazines are not broken out separately) has grown by 18% since 2000, according to a report released by Statistics Canada.Imports of newspapers and periodicals were $982 million in 2000 and had increased to $1.07 billion in 2006, an increase of almost 10%.Exports of newspapers and periodicals were $243 million

Geez wins Magazine of the Year in Western Magazine Awards

The iconoclastic Winnipeg religious magazine Geez, edited by Will Braun and Aiden Enns, was namedMagazine of the Year for Western CanadaBest New Magazine andMagazine of the Year - Manitoba in the Western Magazine Awards, announced Friday evening in Vancouver. (It should be noted that Geez is on a roll, having won 7 awards from the Canadian Church Press in 2007.)Jim Sutherland, who is now

Say your piece about mag conferences

Still time for you to give your views about Magazines University and MagNet in our online questionnaire (which closes this Monday). For more details, see post.

Quote, unquote: Dubious web metrics

Next time someone uses web metrics to tell you that print is dead I have some advice. Laugh.-- John Duncan on his blog Inksniffer The blog item is about how misleading and slapdash is the use of comparative data about online and print readership. If you can work through the item with Duncan, who was formerly managing editor of The Observer, as he parses data about the respective readership of the

Carving up Osprey Media turning out messy for Quebecor and Torstar

A cosy deal to carve up the Osprey newspaper and magazine empire seems to have gone badly awry as Torstar Inc. has cried foul about Quebecor Corp.'s purchase of all the assets, including such venerable newspapers as the St. Catharines Standard and the Kingston Whig-Standard and a clutch of magazines.According to a story in the Globe and Mail, the two conglomerates agreed in late 2005 to divvy up

Organizing notes from the CFU

Michael OReilly*, the interim president of the Canadian Freelance Union (CFU), has responded to some questions raised on the Toronto Freelance Editors and Writers list about the inclusiveness and intentions of the proposed union, still in its formative stage. Freelancer Andrew Clark had some questions about the Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild (SONG) organizing its own freelance union and also

Recording becomes an issue at off-the-record truth-telling session

In an earlier post we had told of an event called Non Fiction that was to be held at the Drake Hotel underground on Wednesday last. According to people who were there, most of the "off the record" truth telling by various media types was fairly mild and lame and occasionally puzzling, although former Toro editor Derek Finkle was quite forthcoming*. The following account was on the Professional

Canadian internet ad spending to be US$2.033 billion by 2011 says PWC study

The annual global look at entertainment and media by Pricewaterhousecoopers LLC says that internet advertising will grow faster in Canada over the next five years than anywhere else in the world. A report on the study was carried in the Globe and Mail. It says that internet advertising will reach US$2.033 billion by 2011, at a compound annual growth rate of 23.5 per cent.Canadian ad spending

Apple polishing

Knowing what Apple polishers many of you are (are you listening, art departments?) I thought you might enjoy a link to a piece by Jack Shafer in Slate that points out the credulous way the media (and that includes magazines) sucks up to Steve Jobs and anything he talks about.Apple's latest PR triumph is the rollout of the iPhone, a product that Jobs announced back in January and which reaches

Maclean's cover subject was slain soldier's favourite pinup

A report on the C News website says that the cover subject for a special university student issue of Maclean's was a favoured pinup for a soldier killed in Afghanistan yesterday (Wednesday).Sgt Chris Karigiannis wrote what can only be called a fan letter to Maclean's saying that the picture of Kinga Ilyes, a 24-year-old student at the University of Western Ontario (though he didn't know her name

Toronto economic development director named president of OMDC

The city of Toronto's director of economic development, Karen Thorne-Stone, has been hired to be the new president and chief executive officer of the Ontario Media Development Corporation, beginning at the end of July.A release from the agency said Thorne-Stone has been with the city of Toronto for 18 years, where she served in a variety of roles, including film commissioner and playing a

Elle Canada editor to judge designer reality show

Elle Canada editor-in-chief Rita Silvan is to be one of judges showing fashion designers "off the island" in the TV reality show Project Runway Canada. She will share judging duties with designer Shawn Hewson of Bustle Clothing and the host of the show, Iman.Twelve designers compete for $100,000 to begin their own fashion line and a feature spread showing the survivor's collection in the pages

Transcon takes over Les editions Ma Maison

Transcontinental Media has added six housing and decor magazines and websites in Quebec with its acquisition of Les editions Ma Maison Ltd., according to a story in the Gazette. The flagship of the group is Maison D'aujourd'hui (a long-time competitor of Transcon's Decormag) and it is acquired along with five other housing and decor titles and websites. These are Condo et Loft D'aujourd'hui,

No online slackers allowed, says Time editor

Time magazine is turning up the heat under its writers and columnists to contribute to Time.com as well as the print magazine. The website was re-launched 4 months ago and while editor Richard Stengel says the results have been good, they're not good enough. According to an item carried in Gawker, he sent a memo to all staff that said,in effect,the future of their jobs depended upon it. As good

Do magazine awards sell ads?

Reptile, the thoughtful but slothful* blogger about magazine advertising, has some views on awards and whether they do any good when it comes to selling ads. Apparently, he's not convinced.Even we slippery advertising reps like to share the proud moment so we attend the award show and cheer on our team's nomination(s) as if we had something to do with it (hey, if there were no ads, there wouldn't

MoneySense warns of a war on the family and the peril posed by those pesky oldsters

MoneySense magazine's summer issue, now out, features an examination of what it calls a demographic crisis in Canada, where young Canadian families are not having enough children to pay for the expected costs of providing benefits and service to a growing senior population.Features editor Duncan Hood says that, while young couples say they want to have 2.5 children, they actually are having only

Quote, unquote

If the Portfolio people just remember that they should be Vanity Fair for business people, I think they'll do just fine. If they're trying to be like Madonna whimpering "I'm a serious actress," -- well, they'll fail.-- comment on Gawker, a Manhattan media blog about the much-talked about Portfolio business magazine recently launched by Conde Nast (and about to publish its second issue.)

Two magazine conferences and what you think about them

This has been a busy month in terms of professional development, with two national magazine conferences running back-to-back in Toronto. Just to remind you, they were:Magazines University, which -- until this year -- was a partnership principally between Masthead magazine, Magazines Canada, the Canadian Business Press and the Circulation Management Association of Canada (CMC). This year, for the

What if, good grief, Conrad Black wins and comes BACK?!

It is beginning to dawn on some that Conrad Black may be acquitted at his Chicago trial, and then what? A story by Susan Chandler in the Chicago Tribune speculates on what would happen if Lord Black were to return to the Sun-Times group: It's the worst nightmare for executives at Sun-Times Media Group Inc.: Conrad Black, the company's former chief executive, is acquitted of criminal charges and

WSJ, USA Today planning...magazines

Two important U.S. daily newspapers have come up with a sure-fire marketing strategy -- both the Wall Street Journal and USA Today are preparing to launch (wait for it) magazines. According to a story in Ad Age, USA Today is farther along, with glossy launch planned for October. The Wall Street Journal is more in the concept stage, looking at a magazine to augment its Saturday "Weekend Edition",

U.S. men's mags sold to private equity firm

Three men's magazines with significant Canadian circulation -- Maxim, Blender and Stuff -- have been purchased from Dennis Publishing by a private equity company for about US$240 million. In cooperation with Kent Brownridge, a former executive of Wenner Media (publishers of Rolling Stone and US), Quadrangle Capital Partners is but the latest private firm to take over well-known magazines in the

Goyette as chair at Mags Canada shows how things can change

Not so long ago, few people in the Canadian Periodical Publishers Association and the Canadian Magazine Publishers Association (predecessors of Magazines Canada) made references to Reader's Digest Canada or Time Canada in anything but disparaging tones.They were considered American carpetbaggers who had somehow finagled their way past regulations on foreign publishers operating in the Canadian

OMDC magazine fund deadline looms; June 21

Reminder to Ontario magazines that the deadline for application to the Ontario Media Development Corporation Magazine Fund is this Thursday, June 21 at 5 p.m.

Ontario "cluster" funding information session

The next round of applications for the Ontario Ministry of Culture's Entertainment and Creative Cluster Partnerships Fund (administered by the Ontario Media Development Corporation) is a couple of months away (August 27 deadline) but an information session for prospective applicants is on June 25, 9:30 am to 11:00 am in the Conference Centre, 175 Bloor Street East, NorthTower, Third Floor,

Champions of ancient forest friendly paper honoured

Markets Initiative, the doughty champions of ancient forest friendly paper use in Canadian publications, has given out "Order of the Forest" awards to a number of people at magazines and printers for their support and encouragement of the cause. The awards were made Friday at the MagNet magazine conference. Since this is the first time the awards have been given out, there was some catchup to do,

First issue of new freelance union newsletter

The Canadian Freelance Union has published the first issue of its newsletter, which you can get here.

National magawards swept (again) by The Walrus

It's probably unnecessary to list extensively the winners and runners-up from the National Magazine Awards three days after the event; those who won know it; those who didn't do, too; those who are interested probably were there or already went to the National Magazine Awards website to see the full list or read about it in various papers. But there are a few things that are worth mentioning:For

Eagle vs Shark Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews writer-director Taika Waititi and star Loren Horsely about Eagle vs. Shark

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NAFTA decision may be good news for the PAP, and for magazines

[This post has been updated*]There may be significant long-term benefits for the magazine industry growing out of a decision announced Monday by a NAFTA arbitration tribunal in Washington. It concerned the case of UPS v. Government of Canada initiated under NAFTA’s Chapter 11. Part of the tribunal's decision has what may be precedent-setting implications for the Publications Assistance Program (

Yes and Know science mags win educational publishing awards

YES and KNOW magazines have each brought home distinguished achievement awards from the Washington D.C.-based Association of Educational Publishers. Both titles are published by Peter Piper Publishing Inc. of Victoria, B.C.YES a science magazine for youths, 9 to 14, won in the Visual Story category for Howie Woo's "Cunning Running" piece about orienteering which appeared in the Sep/Oct 2006

CSME award winners announced

The Canadian Society of Magazine Editors held their annual Editors' Choice awards dinner on Wednesday evening and the winners are as follows (with judges' comments appended).The following categories are judged by a panel of fellow editors:Trade magazine -- Far North Oil and Gas (This magazine succeeds two-ways as it manages to honour the interest of specific readers within its industry, as well

Mega-merger for Abitibi-Consolidated and Bowater paper companies

Pending shareholder votes at both companies on July 26, one of Canada's largest paper companies, Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. will be merged with U.S.-controlled Bowater Incorporated. The proposed merger can be voted on as the result of an interim order of the Quebec Superior Court. Abitibi-Consolidated shareholders will vote in Montreal; Bowater stockholders in Atlanta Georgia. (Bowater Canada Inc.

Senior Living given award for service to Canadian senior community

A British Columbia magazine, Senior Living, has been given an Award of Merit for service to the Canadian senior community. The award was made by the Canadian Association of Senior Advisors, a branch of the international Society of Certified Senior Advisors (SCSA), representing 25,000 geriatric physicians, gerontologists, elder law lawyers, accountants, financial planners, and others trained and

Consumer awareness a big, outstanding challenge

Ron Sellwood is one of the many sensible voices in the magazine industry. The president of the Circulation Management Association of Canada wrote a letter to his members in a special issue of The Circulator keyed to the MagNet magazine publishing conference, being held this week at 89 Chestnut Street in Toronto.One of the industry's biggest challenges, he says, is that while the industry

Magazine ad share growing in U.S.

Magazines share of advertising in the United States is growing (mostly at the expense of newspapers) and is second only to the internet, according to a story in MediaDaily News. It reports on research released today by Magazine Publishers of America, based on data gathered by TNS Media Intelligence. It shows that consumer magazine adshare was 16.6% during the first quarter of 2007, up 1% since

TONY Recommends...

From this week's Time Out New York, the LIT 12 launch party on June 13th is an editors pick! See below for more details!

We're strictly about the money, says freelance union

There's been a bit of grumbling of late about the time it is taking for the Canadian Freelancer's Union to get airborne. A comment by freelancer David Hayes on the Toronto Freelance Editors and Writers list about the example provided by the National Writers's Union in the U.S. prompted CFU President Michael OReilly to respond that the NWU was a pre-existing writer's organization which affiliated

Stories usually told in the dark, behind the hand and over a drink

It's either amazing chutzpah or suicidal hubris, but a group of magazine writers and editors are going to spill some secrets at the Drake Hotel Underground in Toronto on Wednesday, June 20 at 9 p.m. Cost $5.25.It's said that the following will reveal unpublished gossip and innuendo and instances of self-censorship and frustration with editors and producers. "These are stories usually told

Arc aims to rehabilitate reputations of forgotten and neglected Canadian poets

Arc Poetry Magazine is this month launching a special Forgotten and Neglected issue featuring poetry by 13 “forgotten and neglected” Canadian poets. Photographs and essays by many of Canada’s best contemporary poets and critics illustrate their arguments why the featured writers' work ought to be revered and remembered. (The kickoff is a reading on on Saturday, June 23, 2007 at 5 pm at the Manx

George Lucas Q&A Video

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith briefly interviews George Lucas about his writing habits and Star Wars

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George Lucas Q&A Audio

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith briefly interviews George Lucas about his writing habits and Star Wars

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Quebecor closes Vancouver mag printing plant

Quebecor is closing a profitable magazine printing plant in Vancouver, throwing 200 people out of work, becuse it doesn't like its contract with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP). At least that's what the president of Canada's largest media union, Dave Coles, is saying publicly. The Southeast Marine Drive plant prints many west coast titles."I am surprised and disappointed

Circulator Terri DeRose dies

Word has reached us that Terri DeRose, Vice-president of Consumer Marketing at Transcontinental and a very well-respected and hard working volunteer for the magazine industry, has died of cancer at the age of 57. She had been on sick leave for about three months but, nevertheless, the death seemed sudden and unexpected. Staff at Transcon are in shock at a place where DeRose was always known (as

Maisonneuve wins best in show at newsstand awards

Congratulations to the magazines who won the Canadian Newsstand Awards, announced this week at Magazines University.Best in show was Maisonneuve magazine, fittingly for its Winter 2006/07 issue that almost didn't make it onto the racks at Chapters/Indigo as the chain ordered it to be polybagged to keep tender eyes from seeing some pictures of strippers inside. Maisonneuve took the lemon and made

Cover price differences irritating as the loony gains ground

People are beginning to notice the strength of the loony and starting to ask questions about the spread in prices between Canada and the U.S. for magazines and books. Writing from the Canadian Booksellers convention (Book Expo) in Toronto, Jack Knox of the Victoria Times-Colonist says that where the relative prices are printed right on the front or back cover, like magazines, books and greeting

Maureen Murphy leaving Canadian Geographic

In yet another high-level departure from Canadian Geographic magazine, Maureen Murphy, the Vice-President, Consumer Marketing and Operations, has resigned and will be leaving effective June 15, 2007. It was announced to the staff by André Préfontaine, the Publisher.Murphy was responsible for all new media activities and had been in charge of the merchandising division, which was recently wound

Quebecor World buys digital prepress specialist firm

Quebecor World Inc., the heavyweight magazine printer, has beefed up its prepress capabilities by acquiring Colorscope, a California-based specialist boutique firm in digital media management and overseas production support. No price was disclosed.The company, founded in 1976, has facilities in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Seattle and Shanghai. The president of Colorscope, Andrew Cha, becomes

Canadian Geographic co-hosts Canadian Environmental Awards

Biologist,adventurer and film director and producer Jean Lemire, has won the lifetime achievement award of the 6th annual Canadian Environmental Awards, presented this week in Montreal. The Canadian Environment Awards are co-sponsored by the Canadian Geographic Society (publishers of Canadian Geographic magazine, the Government of Canada and Shell Canada, with individual awards supported by 14

KRW trade magazine award winners

The Kenneth R. Wilson awards for trade magazines were handed out on Tuesday evening in a gala dinner at Magazines University. Marketing magazine won gold for four articles, le cooperateur agricole won for best feature article and best issue and CA Magazine and Art Director Bernadette Gillen won two visual awards: best illustration (illustrator: Seth) and best art direction of a complete issue.The

Audit firm expels Corporate Knights

Audit firm BPA WorldWide says Corporate Knights magazine has been expelled for not paying its audit bill. The magazine is wholly controlled, distributing 95,500 copies through the Globe and Mail in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa and Calgary.

In line for the thrones at major U.S. magazine companies

Virtually all the big, U.S.-based magazine companies are facing a changing of leadership sooner rather than later and Advertising Age has a rundown on the possible heirs apparent at Time Inc., Hearst, Hachette and Conde Nast.

Maclean's columnist Eckler sues Hollywood over Knocked Up

Maclean's (and Globe and Mail and formerly National Post) columnist Rebecca Eckler is suing the producer of the movie Knocked Up for having ripped off her book of the same name (Knocked Up: Confessions of a Hip Mother). In an article in Maclean's, she says she is continuing to pursue Universal and Judd Apatow, despite several setbacks such as being "dumped" by a Los Angeles lawyer. In recent

U.S. ad spending down 0.3% in first quarter

Total U.S. ad spending declined by about 0.3% in the first quarter of 2007, according to TNS Media Intelligence release, reported in MediaDaily News. The top 10 advertisers reduced spending by 8%.TNS MI President-CEO Steven Fredericks attributed some of the fall-off to comparisons with a Winter Olympics inflated ad marketplace during the first quarter of 2006, but acknowledged that "core growth

A little something extra

Ken Whyte, the current editor and publisher of Maclean's, testifying at the Conrad Black criminal trial in Chicago, said that he got a C$100,000 bonus from the peer for services rendered while editor of the National Post, according to a story in the Globe and Mail. While this is chicken feed compared with the other numbers being bandied about, it was yet again revealing of the affection and

June is magazine conference month

This is shaping up to be a heckuva three weeks in Canadian magazines with a whole lotta learning, networking and schmoozing goin' on.Starting today (June 4) and through Wednesday, June 6, Masthead magazine and the Canadian Business Press are partnering for Magazines University at the Old Mill in the west end of Toronto (with other partners being the audit organizations CCAB/BPA Worldwide and the

Quote, unquote: Smithsonian editor on print, web and the future of magazines

I think that magazines will survive as print entities, and I think that there will be a kind of Darwinian fallout. I think the fittest will survive. I think other magazines will migrate to the Web, and we’re certainly investing in and looking at the Web. But I do think that the tactile pleasure of carrying a magazine and reading a magazine and turning the pages will continue for as far as the eye

Digital magazine readers like digital magazines. Go figure

Texterity, the digital magazine company, has released the results of a survey of digital magazine readers and found, no surprise, that they are reducing their use of print. Over 44% of the 11,880 respondents to the online survey (it was sent to 99,000 from 110 different publications) said they have decreased their use of print in the past 12 months. The reasons they give include more ease of use,

Venture Publishing of Alberta to launch Unlimited to serve Generation Y

Venture Publishing of Edmonton is to launch a new magazine aimed at the so-called "millenials", the children of boomers. It's called Unlimited and focuses on work and business issues for the highly prized 20- to 35-year-old demographic.The magazine will have a slightly oversized format (9" x 10.75) and publish 6 times a year, with a circulation of 20,000 copies through a combination of paid

It was 40 years ago today, Expo taught us all to play...

It was a shock to some of us to be told this week that the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper album was 40 years old, and that was the same year at Expo 67. For younger people it may merely be an amusing aritifact, but it is hard to over-emphasize how important its release seemed then.The Beaver magazine and its staff, particularly art director Michel Groleau, has done its current cover (June/July) as a

You can help pick the best of the best -- 30 years of National Magazine Award covers

As part of its celebration of 30 years, the National Magazine Awards Foundation is having a "reader's choice" vote about the best covers. Go to the voting site and you can vote 3 times for each of 27 covers* that have been finalists. (above, the 1981 gold winner from Quest.) It will be harder than you think...The winners will be announced at the MagAwards gala at the Carlu in Toronto on June 15.(

Osprey Media bought by Quebecor

Quebecor Media has purchased Osprey Media Income Fund for $517 million. Michael Sifton put together the Osprey Media chain of newspapers and magazines out of the smaller dailies and weekly newspapers and magazines that CanWest Media either didn't want or wanted to sell to pay down debt from buying Conrad Black out of his Hollinger empire. In all, Sifton's company bought 54 newspapers, including

Enough with this "labour of love" stuff

Once and for all, says Nicole Cohen, the alternative magazine press and alternative media in general need to dispatch -- or at least confront -- the idea of such activity being a "labour of love".In a long and thoughtful article in Briarpatch's June/July issue, Cohen, who until recently was co-editor of Shameless magazine, says that non-mainstream magazines are often launched on the strength of