Interesting Development On The CanWest Front

It appears that Shaw Communications is going to take over:

Calgary-based Shaw Communications Corp. would own at least 20 per cent of Canwest's equity and 80 per cent of its voting stock if the transaction announced Friday closes.

I'm not entirely sure, given the byzantine complexity of Canwest's ownership, but this sounds like the Asper family's chokehold control on Canwest is over.

Whether that's enough to save some of Canwest's papers is open to discussion. It will be interesting to see if editorial control over the newspapers continues to be dictated from Winnipeg, or if the newspapers that are part of Canwest's holdings start exercising some independent thought.

Whether the stumbling National Post remains "viable" in the new CanWest empire remains to be seen. As far as I know, it has never actually turned a profit since its inception - one would imagine that fresh eyes on the Canwest board might look at that track record somewhat differently than the Aspers have.

[Update]
It appears that the deal does not include CanWest's newspaper holdings. Interesting. Any guesses on who will buy up the newspaper divisions?
[/Update]

That Would Be No Loss

So...CanWest is threatening to shut down the National Post.

Somehow, for a paper that has focused more on being partisan than doing actual journalism, I just don't feel like there's much of a loss involved here.

National Post was started because Conrad Black had a snit with Jean Chretien - it wasn't started because the country needed - or would benefit from - another newspaper. It was started to foment a campaign against the governing party. When the Aspers acquired it (as Conrad Black's empire was crumbling), they proceeded to drive the whole thing off the deep end of partisan extremism.

If ... and I think it's a remote if right now ... CanWest does shut down the NP, we will have simply lost another media source that overplayed its hand - not unlike the former "Alberta Report" publication which tried to go national.

CanWest Slipping Towards Bankruptcy

As CanWest's financial troubles become more dire, it's beginning to look like Bankruptcy is a very real possibility in the coming weeks.

Potential investors including Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. want the Asper family to give up control of the Winnipeg, Manitoba-based company in return for a cash infusion, the newspaper said today, citing unidentified people.

At least one investor said that Chief Executive Officer Leonard Asper must step aside and that he and his siblings must eliminate a dual-class share structure that allows them to control the company, the Globe said.

Certainly, under the direction of the Aspers, CanWest has stripped the former flagships of the Southam newspaper chain of any editorial freedom. The result being a group of newspapers that spout what ever the neoCon talking point of the day is. Writers capable of being intelligent and engaging like Naomi Lakritz have become mouthpieces for right-wing drivel that might as well be written by Gwen Landolt. When the Quebecor controlled Sun Media newspapers have to come to represent a more balanced approach to journalism in comparison, one must conclude that thoughtful, intelligent journalism has truly withered under the Aspers.

I can only hope that whatever rises from the ashes of the Asper family's mismanagement of a media empire is capable of more intelligent and independent thought in its editorial boards than has been permitted from Winnipeg lately.