Curmudgeon Dalton Camp's knickers must be in a twist. Newspaper baron Conrad Black is taking over as publisher of the National Post, the national newspaper he founded in October, 1998.
It is the first time Black has officially held the title of publisher since he ran the Sherbrooke Record some 30 years ago. In my opinion, the baron’s days at the Record make for some of the most colourful anecdotes in his intriguing book, A Life in Progress.
Conrad Black has always been and will always be my personal hero.
Things down at the lively National Post are destined to be even livelier. There is nothing half measure about Conrad Black, and the boring, soured on life Dalton Camp, who panned him in absentia, must be the least of his worries.
Camp's main toadstool is at the Star.
Black, who travels often to London and New York, says he will devote more time to the Post, but does not plan to set up an office at the paper's headquarters in Toronto.
"In this advanced electronic age, you see, you can spend time with the Post--whenever you want."
Perhaps now that Black is back at the helm, Camp can learn something from the baron's marvelous vocabulary. In his brand of communication, Black unlike Camp, never whines. According to Sun scribe Jeff Harder, "Conrad Black knows how to craft an insult with the precision of a diamond cutter..
"His latest target was Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who smugly poked fun at the Post after his Liberals gave the right-wing Canadian Alliance a good old-fashioned whipping at the ballot box.
'I just want to say the National Post will probably recover from this defeat and return to fight another day,' Chretien said at a Toronto fundraiser.
"The Toronto Sun's Dick Chapman was the first reporter to ask Black for a response to this clumsy assault: 'I saw him (Chretien) come in, and I will see him go out. And I will perform both acts with an equal level of indifference.'"
Back in June of 1998 Black was adding a spark to the indolent newspaper industry months before the advent of the Post. Back in those days, Toronto Star publisher John Honderich, whose paper seems to espouse the notion that the government should look after us from cradle to grave, wanted his friends the feds to step in and do something about Conrad Black's acquisitions. Honderich was then supporting a bevy of lib-left malcontents who all said that Black had too much influence on an industry that has the power to shape public opinion.
"Is it not important that some of the politicians look at these issues to find out whether there's enough diversity?" Honderich was asking about Black's growing ownership of Canadian newsapers.
"To our way of thinking, there's not much doubt that Mr. Honderich could use a little diversity himself," wrote Toronto Free Press.
"When it comes to the newspaper industry and the government, it is David Radler, the president of Black's Hollinger Inc. newspaper chain, who's making the most sense.
"Are we in the business going to leave it the politicians?" he asked.
"Therein lies the rub.
"To some degree, the Canadian newspaper industry has already been left to the politicians.
"John Honderich and his Toronto Star have been spoonfeeding their readership with a soft-left view of life for decades."
A great Canadian, Conrad Black has been a lone wolf visionary among newspaper publishers, some of whom are really politicians at heart.
Before even turning out the premier edition of his Toronto-based daily newspaper, Black was already improving the Canadian newspaper industry. In the prelude to the Post, most newspaper owners were blowing away decades old cobwebs and working actively at improving their own products.
Just by being there, Black is a living reminder to Canadian newspaper publishers that competition is good for everyone. Black even had them believing in themselves again.
Now that he's taken over as publisher of the National Post, life in newspaper land is bound to get more interesting.Curmudgeon Dalton Camp's knickers must be in a twist. Newspaper baron Conrad Black is taking over as publisher of the National Post, the national newspaper he founded in October, 1998.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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