You might think that my coming back to work there would be the biggest news at The Gazette this week, and it is, but there are a few other things happening too as the paper changes, shifts its focus from print to online, and manages with the impact of losing over a dozen staff to buyouts.

Among changes that directly affect readers:

• The Friday event listings pages have been cut from two to one, by concentrating on larger venues and more important events. Expanded listings are provided online. It’s another step in the slow decline of agate pages (you’ll recall something similar happened to the Saturday stock pages in September), which require a lot of work, take up a lot of space, and quickly become outdated.
• The full-page comics section (Monday-Saturday) is being reduced in size to accommodate the syndicated Annie’s Mailbox advice column, which previously appeared in a seemingly random place anywhere in the paper it would fit. The change results in the discontinuing of four comics which the paper deemed unworthy:
  • Hi and Lois: “Too old, less relevant”
  • Hägar the Horrible: “Predictable, sexist, repetitive”
  • Wizard of Id: Died with its creators long ago
  • Between Friends: “Hasn’t lived up to the original promise” Readers think differently, with more than 100 writing in asking editors to restore the strip. It’s brought back after a week, replacing Lio, which “received little acclaim from readers.”
    

  It’s hard to argue since I don’t read those. I prefer Bizarro and Rhymes with Orange.

• Habs Inside/Out has added a new blogger. Chris Aung-Thwin will write “Views from the Blues,” which is apparently a “fan’s perspective” of the team.
• The Thursday Urban Life page has been discontinued. Articles about living in the city will run in the regular lifestyle pages.
• The West Island section is adding a new social column, set to begin within the next month.

An updated list of departing and status-changing columnists appears below. The latest edition is Gaetan Charlebois, whose final Chaud Show column was last weekend.

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