When Bad Things Happen to Good Media: Le Devoir Finds Itself Caught in Quebecor's Web, and I Don't LIke It

No Le Devoir this morning. It seems that locked out workers from the Journal de Montréal have blocked distribution trucks: while Le Devoir remains independent (one of the few voices in Canada) it is printed at the Journal de Montréal plant.

Of course, if you're a home subscriber, this delay is no a surprise. For the last three weeks, Le Devoir has been coming later and later, and the man who delivers our copy says that the carriers have been getting the papers hours late. The conflict of the JDM is part of a greater one at Quebecor, having to do with definion of tasks, and "media convergence."

If I were one of Le Devoir's head honchos, I'd be furious. You can't run a hard copy newspaper if you can't get it distributed. As I noted a few weeks ago, the respected paper has actually seen its circulation grow over the last years, in large part by providing news and analysis that you can't find anywhere else. This would seem to be a way for print media to buck the tide, but it won't work if readers who want a real publication in a format that you can hold while you're sitting in a rocking chair or at the breakfast table can't rely on getting it at home.

It would be a crime if Le Devoir were to allow itself to go down in Quebecor's ill-considered, cut-throat war with its employees. Do something, I say: I want my paper.