What if Monday disappeared and no one noticed?

The Chronicle Herald has announced it will no longer publish a Monday print newspaper. The “saddest truth,” notes our columnist, is how little that decision seems to matter anymore. The saddest truth about last week’s announcement that Saltwire (née the Chronicle Herald) had decided to stop publishing its Halifax Monday print edition (and those of […]

The gospel according to Mark (Lever)

This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner July 16, 2018. “We believe being in 25 communities is a big strength… I believe telling local stories in Gander, and in St. John’s, and in Corner Brook, and Summerside, and Sydney are going to be what supports this network. Not amalgamating. Not putting the same copy […]

The publisher’s daughter

After nearly a decade of self-imposed exile, Heather Dennis returned to her family’s newspaper business in the mid-1980s with plans to turn the Mail-Star into a newspaper people would want to read. Her supporters said she was “a breath of fresh air.” Her detractors wished she’d go away and leave them alone. From Cities Magazine, March 1988 “The […]

Sarah Dennis apologizes… but ignores the reason she had to

Chronicle Herald publisher Sarah Dennis was contrite. Under the headline, “We Have Listened And Will Learn From This,” she wrote about her newspaper’s mis-handling of the infamously viral story that “should not have been released.” She seemed forthright: “apologize,” “failure of foresight,” “acknowledge our mistakes,” “accept and try to learn from criticism…” But nowhere in […]

The Herald: on the downhill run to oblivion?

“Downhill fast.” The caption over Wednesday’s Chronicle Herald front-page photo — of skateboarders zipping down Citadel Hill — said it all. So too did the management-mandated absence of a photo credit (by Tim Krochak). The Herald, which bills itself as Canada’s largest independent newspaper, is hurtling downhill ever-faster toward its own oblivion. And that’s bad […]