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The '''National Post''' is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, Ontario, a district of Toronto.

Contents

History

Origins

Sale to CanWest Global

The Post today

Editors in chief

Current editorial positions

Columnists

Controversy

See also

External links

History

Origins

The ''Post'' was founded in 1998 by Conrad Black to combat what he believed was an "over-liberalizing" of editorial policy in Canadian newspapers, especially of the ''Globe and Mail''. Black built the new paper around the ''Financial Post'', an established business-oriented newspaper in Toronto which he purchased from Sun Media in 1997. (''Financial Post'' was retained as the name of the new paper's business section.) Outside Toronto, the ''Post'' was built on the editorial, distribution, and printing infrastructure of Black's national newspaper chain, formerly called Southam Newspapers, that included papers such as the ''Ottawa Citizen'', ''Montreal Gazette'', ''Calgary Herald'', and ''Vancouver Sun''. The ''Post'' became Black's national flagship title, and massive amounts of start-up spending were dedicated to the product in its first few years under editor Ken Whyte.
Beyond his ideological vision of a more conservative voice, Black was attempting to compete more directly with Kenneth Thomson's media empire led by Canada's establishment newspaper, ''The Globe and Mail'', which had for many years been a staunchly Tory paper before taking a turn towards a more libertarian form of conservatism in the 1990s. When the ''Post'' appeared in 1998, its initial success as a neo-conservative newspaper forced the ''Globe'' towards the moderate centre.
When the ''Post'' launched, it had a stridently conservative editorial stance by Canadian standards. It was widely considered to be the unofficial mouthpiece of the Reform Party of Canada and relentlessly advocated a "unite-the-right" movement to defeat the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien. Its editorial page featured the opinions of well-known neo-conservatives and libertarians from the United States and Canada, such as Mark Steyn, Diane Francis, Andrew Coyne, and David Frum. While the ''Post's news pages were often controversial, due to its British-style blurring of opinion and news, its unique magazine-style graphic and layout design won numerous awards. It was a retro look — with echoes of 1930s design — jazzed up with eye-catching touches, such as oversized headlines, layering of multi-coloured type, reverse type, and jarring colours.

Sale to CanWest Global

The ''Post'' was unable to maintain momentum in the market without continuing to spend heavily and accumulate mounting financial losses. At the same time, Conrad Black was becoming preoccupied by impending troubles with his debt-heavy media empire, Hollinger International. Black finally decided to divest his Canadian media holdings, including the ''Post'' – a move that shocked ''Post'' supporters and delighted the paper's ideological adversaries. Black sold the ''Post'' to CanWest Global Communications Corp, controlled by Israel Asper, in two stages – 50% in 2000, along with the entire Southam newspaper chain, and the remaining 50% in 2001. CanWest Global also owns the Global Television Network, and there has been heavy cross-promotion between the company's newspaper and television properties.
In September 2001, the Aspers imposed an austerity regime on the paper, forcing editor Ken Whyte to drop the arts and sports sections. The move triggered a plunge in circulation from which the ''Post'' never fully recovered, even when the dropped sections were restored. The Aspers' ownership of the paper, combined with drastic budget cuts and staff layoffs, triggered a number of staff defections as the newspaper's future seemed increasingly uncertain. Rumours about the ''Post's imminent closure were chronic.
In early 2003, Izzy Asper purged top management at the ''Post'', including Whyte and deputy editor Martin Newland, due to political differences and the paper's heavy financial losses, which were estimated to have peaked at $60 million annually. Asper hired Matthew Fraser as Editor-in-Chief. He had been the paper's media columnist from its inception and was regarded as close to the Aspers. Fraser's tenure at helm of the ''Post'' was marked by further budget cuts, restructuring, and staff layoffs, while doubts continued about the long-term future of the money-losing paper in its commercial war with the ''Globe and Mail''. Fraser also was forced to fire two ''Post'' writers, including a high-profile columnist, for plagiarism. Another high-profile gossip columnist was fired for a salacious article about Canada's Governor General. Staff defections continued, notably among high-profile columnists such as Mark Steyn, who were loyal to the conservative ''Post'' under Conrad Black.
Under Fraser's editorship, the ''Post'' gained notoriety in Canadian media circles for its regular feature called "CBC Watch" – inspired in part by ''The Daily Telegraph's "Beeb Watch" in Britain -- which pointed out errors of fact and supposed evidence of left-wing and anti-Israeli bias at the public broadcaster. "CBC Watch" infuriated the CBC's supporters, and critics claimed the ''Post'' was attacking the CBC to defend the commercial interests of the private television network, Global TV, owned by the Asper family. Izzy Asper had long railed against the state-owned CBC, and once declared publicly that it should be "expunged".
Izzy Asper died suddenly in October 2003, leaving his media empire in the hands of his two sons, Leonard and David Asper, the latter serving as chairman of the ''Post''. Fraser departed in 2005 after the arrival of a new publisher, Les Pyette – the paper's seventh publisher in seven years. Pyette, a former publisher of the racy tabloid, ''Toronto Sun'', aggressively took the ''Post'' downmarket with splashy tabloid-style tone and look. Fraser's deputy editor, Doug Kelly succeeded him as editor, though Pyette was regarded as firmly in contol of the newsroom as a hands-on publisher. Pyette suddenly departed only seven months after his arrival, replaced by Gordon Fisher, a career Southam newspaperman who had briefly served as interim publisher a few years earlier.

The Post today

Since Israel Asper's acquisition of The National Post, the paper has become a strong voice in support of the state of Israel and its government. The Post was one of the few Canadian papers to offer unreserved support to Israel after it invaded southern Lebanon in its fight against Hezbollah.
[1]

One of its columnists even referred to Hezbollah as "cockroaches." Canadian pundits argue whether The Post's unadulterated support of Israel is a legacy of its late founder’s political ideology or a shrewd business manoeuvre.
[2]
The ''Post'' during Ken Whyte's editorship was strongly associated with the personality of proprietor Conrad Black, just as the paper during Matthew Fraser's editorship was associated with Izzy Asper. Today the ''Post'' has to some extent abandoned the neo-conservative ideology that, while often controversial, gave the ''Post'' a distinct voice and loyal readership. Many of its rival papers, meanwhile, have copied its unique design and layout features. In a national newspaper market considered too thin to sustain two products, the ''Post'' has struggled against the ''Globe and Mail'', which has the advantages of a loyal readership and a history stretching back to the mid-19th century. The ''Post's entry into the Canadian newspaper market, while dazzling during its aggressively marketed start-up phase, was poorly timed because the entire newspaper sector was entering a period of structural decline, which continues today, as readers turn towards the Internet and other sources for information and distraction.
Politically, the ''Post'' has retained a conservative editorial stance under the Aspers' ownership, but has become markedly less strident. The Asper family has long been strong supporters of the Liberal Party, though they have always had libertarian leanings. Izzy Asper was once leader of the Liberal Party in his home province of Manitoba. The Aspers had controversially fired the publisher of the ''Ottawa Citizen'', Russell Mills, for calling for the resignation of Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien.
However, the ''Post'' – careful to retain the loyalty of its conservative readers – endorsed the Conservative Party of Canada in the 2004 election when Fraser was editor. The Conservatives narrowly lost that election to the Liberals. After the election, the ''Post'' surprised many of its conservative readers by shifting its support to the victorious Liberal government of prime minister Paul Martin, and was highly critical of the Conservatives and their leader, Stephen Harper. The paper switched camps again in the runup to the 2006 election (in which the Conversatives won a minority government). During the election campaign, David Asper appeared publicly several times to endorse the Conservatives.
The ''Post'' continues to lose money – financial analysts estimate annual losses at about $15 million – and rumours persist that the Aspers will close down the ''Post'' due to its lack of profitability. Others believe, however, that the Aspers will keep the newspaper going in order to have a political voice in Canada, notably on issues such as Israel. The ''Post'' today operates under the editorial direction of David Asper, an outspoken and controversial figure who is generally considered to lack the stature and business acumen of his late father.
The ''Post'''s Toronto edition is printed at the ''Toronto Star'' presses in Vaughan, Ontario. The ''Star'' is one of the ''Post's commercial rivals in the fiercely competitive Toronto newspaper market (Toronto is the 4th largest media centre in North America, after New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago).

Editors in chief

★ Kenneth Whyte, 1998–2003

★ Matthew Fraser, 2003–2005

★ Doug Kelly, 2005–present

Current editorial positions

★ Doug Kelly, Editor-in-Chief

★ Stephen Meurice, Deputy Editor

★ Jonathan Harris, Executive Editor

★ Jonathan Kay, Managing Editor, Comment

★ Sarah Murdoch, Managing Editor, Features

★ Ian Karleff, Managing Editor, Financial Post

★ Terence Corcoran, FP Editor

★ Diane Francis, FP Editor-at-large

Columnists

★ Conrad Black

★ Don Martin

★ John Ivison

★ Shinan Govani

★ Terence Corcoran

★ Robert Fulford

★ George Jonas

★ Jonathan Kay

★ Barbara Kay

★ Gerald Owen

★ Rick Spence

★ Fr. Raymond J. de Souza

★ Andrew Coyne

Controversy

Main articles: 2006 Iranian sumptuary law

On May 19, 2006, the newspaper ran two pieces alleging that the Iranian parliament had passed a law requiring religious minorities to wear special identifying badges. One piece was a front page news item titled "IRAN EYES BADGES FOR JEWS" accompanied by a 1935 picture of two Jews bearing Nazi-ordered yellow badges. Later on the same day, experts began coming forward to deny the accuracy of the ''Post'' story. The story proved to be false, but not before it had been picked up by a variety of other news media and generated comment from world leaders. Comments on the story by the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper caused Iran to summon Canada's ambassador to Tehran for an explanation.
On May 24, 2006, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Doug Kelly, published an apology for the story on Page 2, admitting that it was false and the ''National Post'' had not exercised enough caution or checked enough sources.[3]

See also

★ Media in Canada

★ List of Canadian newspapers

★ List of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation

External links

★ Official website