pwned by a subbieClick to embiggen

Disgruntled Star Editor Takes Constructive Revenge – torontoist — Golly. Nothing like having your arse handed to you on a silver plate. Note my correct use of italics :).

Earlier this week the Toronto Star announced, among other changes, that it was planning to outsource some one hundred in-house, union editing jobs. In the press release issued by the union in the wake of the announcement, union chief Maureen Dawson explained that “Journalism is a collaborative effort, the product of a team of reporters, photographers and editors working in concert to produce the kind of activist agenda that has served Star readers and our community so well for so long…To remove a critical element of that work is to shortchange everyone who depends on it.”

Now, one (apparent) editor at the Star has decided to show us all the benefits of collaboration. An extensively marked-up copy of Publisher John Cruickshank’s internal memo announcing the changes was sent to Torontoist by a self-described “intermediary who was asked to send this for a friend who works at the Star” this morning; it’s, allegedly, “the work of a Star editor.”




  1. jescott418 says:

    Why is it that Unions always claim a non union worker cannot do their job? You would think they could come up with a better reason. I am still amazed at how many union members would rather lose a job then accept a wage freeze or even a pay cut. Do they not see the news? Have they not heard about newspapers failing? Reality bites sometimes.

  2. bobbo, international pastry chef and copy editor says:

    Most of the comments were “off point” calling for detail in what is clearly meant to be a first call/motivation piece to the staff. Details called for would make the memo too long and boring. Save it for later.

    Whats is important is that a communication was made at all==that is good. Cherry picking is for those not charged with actually getting anything done.

  3. Sea Lawyer says:

    #3, removing the exemptions from antitrust laws that unions enjoy would be nice.

  4. jbellies says:

    Given the context–to mark up a memo as if it were a newspaper article–I found the piece in sardonic good taste.

    If you outsource your copy editing to Chicago, how do you know that Chicago doesn’t in turn outsource to India? Nothing against India, but if readers knew their newspaper was edited there, they might prefer a competitor.

    Maybe Canadian journalists will start making obscure references to “Number 9” and start using those 80 Inuit words for snow, just to confound the outsourced copy editors. Hmm. Is this the beginning of a new language? Nude legs in the dawn?

  5. Mark T. says:

    Pwned! Well done.

    I am not a fan of unions but I am sick of hearing the term “outsourcing” being used by corporate executives trying to line their pockets with a few more ducats. That is just code for “we would like to pay you less and drop your health insurance but we can’t so we are just going to fire you and replace you with an outside contractor in India or Mexico”.


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