The Globe and Mail is being all proud of its new Toronto section, which includes a content-sharing deal with the Torontoist blog.
In a chat with readers, Toronto editor Kelly Grant took a few minutes from being so gosh-darn adorable to counter a complaint that I was about to make: Isn’t this supposed to be a national newspaper? Here’s what she said:
I think you underestimate The Globe’s ability to do more than one thing at a time. We have always been and always will be a national paper — in print and online. We have more resources in more parts of Canada and around the world than any other newspaper in the country. This new initiative won’t diminsh our superb national and international coverage.
Those of you who don’t read the paper in the GTA and Ontario may not realize that we usually dedicate roughly two pages of space in the A-section to Toronto news. We have different editions across the country. (In B.C., for example, we have a large bureau and a section front full of news you won’t see in other parts of Canada.) Yet online we buried the work of our expanded B.C. and Toronto bureaus until recently. I see no reason to shortchange our loyal online readers in two of Canada’s largest and most important cities, especially when I know it won’t hurt our coverage of other parts of Canada.
She’s got a point, and the B.C. website is also impressive. But considering how little attention other places get (like, say, the entire province of Quebec) compared to Toronto City Hall, I still find myself wondering if the Globe is too focused on the few streets outside its two homes instead of the rest of us.
Let’s hope Canada’s national newspaper slowly moves to cover every city like it does the country’s largest.
You realise this is the “national newspaper” that thinks Moncton is the capital of New Brunswick.
Hilariously, no one in TO reads the G&M for local news… that’s what the Star is for.
Perhaps the foodies among you have noticed that the Glob reviews Toronto restaurants – and Vancouver restaurants. Yes, the latter get me longing for some wonderful fresh Asian-inspired seafood, but odd indeed that they rarely if ever touch on Montréal food or restaurants.
The National Post is Canada’s national newspaper, not The Globe and Mail.
The Post has just as much of a Toronto bias as the Globe, if not moreso.
And it’s hard to call something a national newspaper when it doesn’t deliver to the prairies.
Didn’t the National Post also stop distributing in Newfoundland and Labrador some time ago?
They’re circulation would probably do well to at least have a provincial desk and edition in every province. Except in Quebec, that would have to a city desk/section.
Actually the tedious Joanne Kates visits Montreal once in blue moon and when she takes the summer off for her parents summer camps business, the replacements cover more than the elite T.O. stuff.