As Black Press, CanWest, and their U.S. counterparts face up to hard times as the public continues losing confidence in daily newspapers, leading to plummeting circulation.

The defendants in a lawsuit brought by CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc. over a Vancouver Sun parody got support this week from a magazine editor who knows much about satire and getting sued.

In a recent article, the Vancouver Sun didn’t mention a close family connection between a senior college administrator and Premier Gordon Campbell. Catherine Vertesi, a vice president of Capilano College, is Campbell’s sister. Her photo and a quotation from her appeared in a laudatory Vancouver Sun piece by Gillian Shaw on May 3 about the Campbell government’s decision to grant university status to five postsecondary institutions, including Capilano College.

There was more bad news this month for the beleagured Metro International S.A., which is a partner in the Vancouver Metro Vancouver commuter paper. Read the masthead of the local freebie, and you'll see that Metro is billed as "the world's largest newspaper, with more than 18.5 million readers in 100 major cities in 21 countries".

Stop the presses. The Fraser Institute–loving Vancouver Sun–which has been maligned for its previous coverage on climate change–has announced the appointment of David Suzuki as editor for a day.

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, a nonprofit watchdog for Canadian programming, has filed an intervention with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission opposing a key aspect of CTVglobemedia Inc.'s proposed takeover of CHUM Limited. However, its submission has been offset by numerous political heavyweights, including three premiers, who contacted the CRTC expressing support for the deal.

Two big questions overshadow former publishing tycoon Conrad Black's criminal trial, which began in Chicago on March 14. Why did Black's long-time business partner David Radler, 64, agree to testify for the prosecution? And why did Black, 63, decide in the face of this to plead not guilty?

Three local observers of the media agree that TV coverage of the Liberal leadership race was thin on policy and strong on sports clichés. “It’s often how we define news; it’s an acceptable way of covering it,” Mary Lynn Young, assistant professor at the UBC School of Journalism, told the Georgia Straight. “I watched it and, yes, it [is] becoming a sporting event. You hear who’s on first base, second base, or who hit a home run. It’s sports metaphors.”

The Conservative government’s recent decision to release a list of journalists’ speaking fees has shed light on a topic rarely discussed in the Canadian media. On November 14, 2005, Conservative MP Scott Reid raised the issue in Parliament when he asked then–Liberal house leader Dominic LeBlanc for a list of current and former members of the Ottawa press gallery who had provided services to government departments, agencies, and Crown corporations.

The Georgia Straight obtained a copy of LaPointe's e-mail, which claimed that editor Patricia Graham's “primary goal” this year for the paper was to improve accuracy.