Tag Archives: Bernard Landry

Journal Daily Digest: Cauchon sticks his nose in it

Journal de Montréal picket

The link of the day comes from this morning’s Le Devoir, in which media reporter Paul Cauchon does an analysis of the Journal situation, the freelance columnist problem and the role of unions in media. It’s a bit opinionative (and, since it’s in Le Devoir, that opinion is left-of-centre), but worth a look.

Tout le monde won’t shut up

Patrick Lagacé and Bernard Landry were on Tout le monde en parle last night, and both answered questions about the Journal. Landry recently quit his column (with a lame excuse) and Lagacé had to answer for his boyfriend Richard Martineau, who just won’t quit. Rue Frontenac was watching and has the play-by-play. As does Richard Therrien.

On the other channel (with twice the audience), TVA had the premiere of Star Académie, and Journal workers were picketing outside giving out flyers to audience members. (The Clique du Plateau wonders if Rue Frontenac’s critique of the show would have been as critical if it had appeared in the Journal)

In other news

Meanwhile, a journalist at Transcontinental in Quebec City has gotten her job back after she was fired last year, coincidentally (or not) as she was organizing a union for their community weeklies in the area.

Journal Daily Digest: Landry changes his mind

Ex-Premier Bernard Landry, who had decided to stay on as a columnist at the Journal de Montréal (and was even going to defend that decision today), has done a 180, deciding to stop his column.

His reason is about as stupid as you can imagine: He objects to the fact that the production of this scab paper is being done out of Toronto. That, it seems, goes against the whole Quebec-can-do-things-on-its-own idea, apparently moreso than the paper being filled with material produced by non-unionized journalists and translated copy from Sun Media … in Toronto.

Methinks he might have been looking for an excuse to weasel his way out of a decision that he has recently realized goes against just about everything the PQ stands for, especially after all the prodding in the media.

He did interviews today anyway, to explain his decision to go back on his decision.

Steve Proulx is running a pool to see who the next columnist to leave will be. I’ll put my non-money on Louise Deschâtelets.

Video

Proving that they have no problem with this whole Internet/video thing, journalists at Rue Frontenac produced their first journalistic video, a profile of boxer Antonin Decarie.

The video is a bit too reliant on still pictures, but it’s a good start. You’ll note the credits at the end: a photographer, a videographer and an editor are three separate people.

Decarie even advertised for Rue Frontenac on his shorts during his fight.

The rest