SUN Newspapers Boycott Federal Election

Politcal fans like sports fans are dedicated, addicted, you need your political fix especially during elections. Well you won't find it in the pages of the SUN newspaper chain in this upcoming federal election. Whooa what's that you say the veritable mouth piece of the right wing won't be following the various party leaders in the upcoming election. Nope. Probably too busy covering Santa Claus and his record trip around the world. Using CP to do their election coverage must be the ultimate in outsourcing. So what are they gonna do with Greg Weston? Maybe he will start doing a column on ice fishing tips.

Embassy, November 23rd, 2005
FEATURE
By Sean Durkan

Sun Media Won't Follow Leaders This Election

I can't imagine this happening in the U.S. or Britain or any other democratic nation for that matter. Canada's second largest newspaper chain ­ Sun Media ­ will not be unleashing its political reporters on the party leaders in the looming federal election.

The edict came down last week from the chain's owners Quebecor Media: For the first time in the Sun's history, the chain's Hill bureau team will not be traveling on the leaders' planes. In fact, this is probably the first time that a major news outlet will not have a presence on these planes.

In order to save money, Quebecor Media is going to leave it to Canadian Press to provide the news from the tour to the papers' readers.

This is good news for Prime Minister Paul Martin, given that the Suns are the staunchest critics of his Liberal government and provide a major voice for Conservative minded Canadians. I wonder if former Tory Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who is Quebecor's chairman, knows about this.