What comes after Canadian newspapers die off?

Yesterday’s claim by Frank Magazine that Postmedia Network Canada Ltd. will amalgamate its daily newspapers in Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa next spring just pulled the fire alarm on the parlous state of this country’s print media.
Large numbers of Canadians were already shaking their heads at the nearly complete disconnect between Canada’s foundering commercial news industry, especially its major metropolitan and national newspapers, and the huge national audience the industry supposedly serves.
The fact that pretty well every one of them endorsed the late Harper government, which Canadians had overwhelmingly turned against with fear and revulsion while our democracy still functioned, was greeted, quite justifiably, with disgust, contempt, incomprehension and a certain amount of wry amusement.
The Globe and Mail set the standard for idiocy with an editorial calling on Canadians to vote for the Conservatives, but opining hopefully that the then re-elected Cons should get rid of Stephen Harper. Well, the Tory knives are out for Harper now, but only because we Canadians had the good sense to ignore the Globe’s tortured reasoning.
These newspapers have reporters in every community, wondering Canadians observed, asking themselves: How could they be so out of touch? That’s a very good question.
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