The Vancouver Sun=The Onion

The Vancouver Sun has always been a lousy paper, but it has really taken a turn for the worse since my last visit.

Today's front page headlines from the print edition:

"Did B.C. help fund gangster's burial?"--Capitalism is lying in ruins and the Sun's big story is that an alleged drug trafficker may have received a $1050 burial benefit to which he may not have been entitled.  

"Frozen Water [sic] Caused Tower Collapse"--A legit news item about a gondola accident at a ski hill, but I believe there's a more concise term for that stuff.

"Cold? This isn't cold, I'll tell you what cold is"--An opinion piece about the weather by Stephen Hume.

Further inside the "A" section:

"Clothes, common sense key to surviving cold"--Nudity a poor coping strategy for winter weather, experts say. Sun readers reminded to wear coats, hats and gloves.

An opinion piece bemoaning the epidemic of charities luring donors with unwanted customized mailing labels.

Comments

[Lesley]

The Sun, the Province, the Victoria Times Columnist and most of the community papers in BC, are all owned by the Aspers. They contain the same daily news with slight revisions in the headlines and little meaningful local content. All the papers endorsed Harper before the election. Sun Media - another Harper endorsing corporation - owns a wack more across the country, and then you have the Harper-endorsing Globe and Mail and the extreme wingnut-plagued Harper worshipping National Post. CBC news is a shell of its former self, and as its readers often point out, gets things wrong or fails to do adequate research.

In other words, we're SOL when it comes to news.

The Tyee is a decent little paper.

Ironically, I often find out about economic events locally from Bloomberg.

[Lesley]

This might interest you, btw
Newsroom Staff Cut at Vancouver's Big Papers
Ahead: Fewer news jobs, more news 'platforms.'
http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/11/08/JobCuts/

[cfrost]

Oh,I don't know, the Sun was the go-to paper for coverage of the pig farmer guy in B.C. who was feeding prostitutes to his livestock.

[Neil the Ethical Werewolf]

I used my unwanted customized mailing labels to send off 99 philosophy job applications last year! People, don't be dissing unwanted customized mailing labels.

[Cass]

Those wacky weather-themed opinion pieces: how cold or hot it is, how much precipitation we're getting or not getting, how people from a different climactic zone laugh at our complaints about it or vice versa. A few more of these, maybe an expose or two on crime syndicates recieving welfare checks and I'm sure they'll halt print journalism's slide into the crapper.

[CW]

people from a different climactic zone laugh at our complaints

I think you mean climatic zones, either that or your comment belongs in a completely different (albeit interesting) thread.

[ghostcatbce]

Heh. I love those customized mailing labels. I'm hoping to get more. They make letter writing so much easier.

[Cass]

"I think you mean climatic zones, either that or your comment belongs in a completely different (albeit interesting) thread."

Lit majors use that word too. "The climactic moment of the play is when Cassandra splits Aegithus' head with an axe."

[doyle Saylor]

I see a lot of pressure on regional or city presses to go local in their coverage and offer more depth in the neighborhood. The Sun appears to think more stupid news means more revenue. A genuine test of the times in newspaper publishing I'm sure. Can stupid triumph when online pressures push the press local? I don't think so.

[Daedalus]

The Onion is America's Finest News Source!!