Dose Toast

[Glen Livingstone]

Sad to learn that CanWest's giveaway rag Dose has ceased publication.

"We just can't support the losses, and there's no reason to believe it's going to get any better," said CanWest executive Peter Viner.

The company cited a crowded market for free commuter newspapers and lack of support for the publication from advertisers.

Yeah, it couldn't possibly have had anything to do with the worthless content that dominated its pages.

Wonder how long it will be before CanWest's creaky National Post follows suit?

[Stn Brk]

A friend of mine was badgered into taking the Sun after numerous phone calls from telemarketers. Part of the deal is, she gets the National Post for free. It's so bad, she uses the NP as bedding in the dog run. Canwest is cheap and it shows.

[tuned]

I ditched all of Canwests offerings months ago. Of course they continued to ding my CC like nothing had happened until repeated phone calls finally got lenny and squiggy out of my pocket. I still get the Globe but I am even beginning to question continued support of the likes of Eckler and McLaren so they are hanging by a thread. I've found that the less corporate media I consume the lower my blood pressure gets. Same goes for TV and well radio, don't even get me started. I may have to change my handle to tuned_out. Just for fun don't consume any of Canada's corporate media for a week. You might just like it.

[Stn Brk]

So that's why my blood pressure readings are lower than they were twenty years ago! I went newspaper-free a while back without losing track of what's happening in the world. Ten minutes in the morning on the net and I'm all caught up. Hint - the Globe has the best horoscopes, by far. Read everything else with great suspicion. Now, canada.com is even offering tv listings on its websites. No need to buy a TV Guide. I'd like to kick the tv 6 p.m. news habit as well, but that's been tougher. Might dust off the VCR and tape the news, then fast forward through the crap. I mean, how many times do you need to see the weather person in one hour?


Tip to tuned on how to avoid Canwest - think Call Display.

[tuned]

Hey stn brk the TV habit is easy to kick. Watch any of the six o'clock shows, shows being the operative word with a critical eye. How much real news do you actually get? Other than fear mongering, cop stuff, "victims" and PR spin there ain't much there that you can't get from other sources. The arrogance of the worthless meat puppets just oozes out of the screen. Maybe there is something wrong with me but I seldom go to movies (three times a year maybe), I don't watch television. Davinci Code, what's that? No newspapers cept the Globe and the NY Times on Sunday. Magazines? Macleans, Newsweek, Time? Unless I'm at the dentist fuhgeddaboutit. I listen to KGO online, read MOJO Magazine and the rest comes from the net. If I didn't have a house full of rugrats I wouldn't even have cable.

[johnsykes]

As much as I like The Province Sports section, I dumped that paper earlier this year for one good reason - money gouging. I had been on an automatic debit payment deal....and as much as I had temporarily cancelled the subscription for a total of 34 days in the year, while I was on vacation, thyey continued to debit my account. They told me I would have to build up to two months before I got one free. Bullsh** said I and cancelled...I got my money back...too late fellers....too late. I get my news now from the internet.

[tuned]

My wife tells me that Canwest has been calling offering us a chance to "come back" for ten bucks a month with the Post thrown in for nothing.

[Cliff Bashly Kinkade]

Yabbut she probably left out the part about sleeping with Kevin Newman, or the paperboy in order to get that deal.

Just thought you should know.