235 replies to this topic

[Sparky]

I got a kick out of Obee's comment ...beware of someone with a grudge sitting in his mother's basement stealing things off the internet and posting that as news......or words to that affect.

[Mike K.]

Reddit users discussing misinformation and fake news in relation to the TC are propagating quite a bit of misinformation and fake news themselves in a recent thread titled “The TC declares all out war with VibrantVictoria: https://www.reddit.c...brant_victoria/

The TC is doing NO such thing. The post by the TC’s editor, being vague, caused many people to insert “X” into their idea of who the TC was targeting in their statement and suddenly their interpretation became fact. Citified was targeted particularly hard because we ran a piece about the redevelopment of the TC Building just prior to the editor’s statement. The piece was 100% factual and on point. Even the editor of the paper acknowledged that such was the case.

Once you reach a certain size and have a certain amount of influence in a community you inevitably give rise to people who love you, people who despise you, people who hate you and people who are indifferent towards you. Every organization faces this sort of reality once they break out, so to speak. With our Facebook posts we can never make everyone happy, ever, and with every popular post comes a litany of inappropriate or conspiratorial comments, accusations towards us, praise and complaints. We’re used to it by now, but gosh golly, Reddit people, if you’re trying to tackle the issue of misinformation and fake news, don’t be the source of it yourself. We’re not hard to find and there is nothing keeping any one of you from messaging us with something as simple as a question for which you may not have an answer.

[VicHockeyFan]

I got a kick out of Obee's comment ...beware of someone with a grudge sitting in his mother's basement stealing things off the internet and posting that as news......or words to that affect.

 

My mom does not even own a basement, she lives in an assisted living home.  Fake news!

 

Obee trotted out the usual tired line about selling the building so they can "concentrate on what they do best", rather than just saying what the Glacier Media 3rd quarter report says, they sold some real estate for cash.

 

It's odd, right, that for 150+ years the TC owned their own building, imagine, just now 150 years later, they realized it was a distraction.

 

Look, they sold the building, got cash.  They laid off more staff, saved some money.  They are now left with a monthly office rental, and a physical press that's nearly 30 years old.  Not much value left, if the paper loses money each month too, as it likely does.  

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 26 January 2018 - 08:49 AM.

[rjag]

Yup, its a pretty good position to be in, sell the hard assets, get the cash out and diversify. Its money that can be used to either keep the ship afloat or to be extracted and paid out in dividends before creditors get to it at some point in the future.

 

No business is immune, this is the true test of Darwinism; adapt or die. 

[vortoozo]

Reddit users discussing misinformation and fake news in relation to the TC are propagating quite a bit of misinformation and fake news themselves in a recent thread titled “The TC declares all out war with VibrantVictoria: https://www.reddit.c...brant_victoria/

The TC is doing NO such thing. The post by the TC’s editor, being vague, caused many people to insert “X” into their idea of who the TC was targeting in their statement and suddenly their interpretation became fact. Citified was targeted particularly hard because we ran a piece about the redevelopment of the TC Building just prior to the editor’s statement. The piece was 100% factual and on point. Even the editor of the paper acknowledged that such was the case.
 

 

Luckily around here we know the true story.

[VicHockeyFan]

Nobody knows the true story except very high-ups in Glacier and their un-named joint venture partner, likely David Radler.  And I'm willing to admit I do not know how high up the guy was I spoke with, nor if he had the exact details.  But he sure seemed to speak confidently.

 

Unless vortoozo is David Radler maybe...

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 26 January 2018 - 11:30 AM.

[vortoozo]

So your "source" is someone whom you don't even know what position they hold?

This just gets better!

 

I have no connection to the TC.

[VicHockeyFan]

So your "source" is someone whom you don't even know what position they hold?

 

 

Correct.   The source does needs quotes though.  He was a Glacier executive, of that I'm 100% sure.

 

Look, all the denials are fine.  I'd expect no less.  But I'd expect educated readers to not take them at face value necessarily.  A starting Black Press reporter earns well under $20/hour.  An experienced (5+ years) TC reporter makes $43/hr before very generous benefits.  I'd even expect the reporters to be in denial too.

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 26 January 2018 - 11:52 AM.

[rjag]

It doesnt take a rocket scientist to look at teh state of the newspaper industry across the western world and make a few simple deductions that the industry is in trouble and has to adapt. The NY Times and the Daily Mail have made great inroads to the digital world, the TC....not so much. 

 

If you had a chance to invest $10,000 to buy a share in the TC today would you?

 

Selling the one hard asset they had, the real estate, leaves them with goodwill valuations on one side of the balance sheet and pension liabilities and debt on the other side.... 

[rjag]

https://www.theglobe...s/stocks/GVC-T/

 

This chart speaks more about the industry than any editorial can. The hard numbers are the parent company is off 52% over the past 3 years. They have a P/E of 72x

 

2012 annual sales - $330 million

2016 annual sales - $199 million

 

2012 Net income - $11 million

2016 net income - $1 million

 

2012 EBITDA - $43 million

2016 EBITDA - $17 million

[Rob Randall]

A starting Black Press reporter earns well under $20/hour.  An experienced (5+ years) TC reporter makes $43/hr before very generous benefits.  I'd even expect the reporters to be in denial too.

 

Not only that, Black Press reporters (or multi-media journalists as they call them now) do the work that used to be done by four or five or more people in a traditional newsroom. 

 

They say InDesign is an employment asset so I have to assume reporters are doing they're own pasteup, or at least inserting copy for the layout person in addition to photographing their own stories. Plus, it looks like they are largely doing their own proofreading although the editor likely gives it a quick once-over. 

 

Even if this Glacier guy was a low-level employee speculating on his own hunch, it shows that there is blood in the water. 

 

The loss of classified advertising was a huge financial blow to newspapers. A merged TC/Black Press would bring the used.ca brand into the TC.

 

I don't for a moment think the TC will disappear entirely. There is too much equity in the brand.

[VicHockeyFan]

One of the problems though, if they sell it the employees have successor rights or whatever it’s called.

You can lock out employees, but they might hold on for a long time.

Look at Halifax.


I admit I have no idea what the expected life of the press itself is. Is 30 years “old”? Dunno.

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 26 January 2018 - 12:27 PM.

[VicHockeyFan]

Halifax, 18 month strike:

Of the roughly 60 reporters, photographers, editors and support staff that walked off the job in January 2016, 25 will return to work next week, 26 are laid off, one is moving to Herald’s newly-acquired Cape Breton Post newspaper and the rest quit during the protracted strike.


The agreement ratified by union members includes pension changes, wage roll-backs, longer work days and reduced severance, sick leave and vacation entitlements going forward.

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 26 January 2018 - 12:30 PM.

[Bingo]

I admit I have no idea what the expected life of the press itself is. Is 30 years “old”? Dunno.

 

That is very old for a press as the digital age has made most printing equipment of that vintage obsolete.

[VicHockeyFan]

Perhaps some components were upgraded?

[Mike K.]

Thank you to those of you who have communicated with me in private. Your input and feedback is important and has been taken into consideration. The moderating team feels it is best to lock this thread for a period of time, and below are our reasons why.

 

VibrantVictoria is an open format discussion platform for the public to share and discuss matters related to our community and beyond; anyone is able to create an account and post to this forum. We, as moderators, take no more responsibility for information posted to this forum than a platform like Twitter, Reddit or Facebook takes for comments posted there.

 

Unfortunately this fact is often lost on the public when they attribute fault or blame for content on VibrantVictoria they do not agree with or believe to be factual. In other words, information posted here is in no way sanctioned/approved/authorized by VibrantVictoria or its moderators, but the greater community sometimes attributes discussions here as published and vetted content by VibrantVictoria.

 

To be mislabelled as fake news, referred to in public as "vicious Victoria," "crap," a "shithole," and many other terms that have appeared over the last two days is challenging. It erodes the work we put into this platform and makes it difficult if not impossible within some segments of the community to climb out of a hole dug for us, not by us.

 

We cannot apologize for something we did not do, and we cannot be responsible for the actions of individuals who contribute to this forum or on our Facebook page, but what we can do is learn from this as an organization and hope that our community of contributors takes to heart the responsibility that comes with presenting information on this platform and how it can be perceived by the public.