The Vancouver Courier got into the Spirit of NO2010
If not for flyers from Rona, Zellers and Canadian Tire tucked within, the latest 32-page edition of the Vancouver Courier would barely make a sound when tossed on my front porch. The once influential bi-weekly looks a little paler during tough economic times, with a fraction of its normal coverage, fewer advertisements and the lower page count. While some might chalk it up to the time of year, you just have to look at the relatively beefy Georgia Straight which tops out at 95 pages this week.
Critics of The Courier are beginning to wonder if the paper's slow demise is self-imposed. When the majority of the city were gearing up for the excitment of the 2010 Olympics, The Courier provided at best tepid coverage about it. In fact, in terms of column inches, criticism of the Games far outweighed any positive stories. For example, two full pages were dedicated to profiling Olympic protesters just before the Torch touched down in Vancouver. All that was missing was a centerfold of Chris Shaw.
The typical response of detractors is to send The Courier straight to the blue box, but it's when editors try to be funny, some readers get a little irate. In their February 25th edition of the unsigned "Kudos & Kvetches" column, the Courier decided to have a yuck over the wide distribution of condoms to prevent the spread of disease in the Olympic Athlete's Village. Regarding the amount of fraternizing among athletes the Courier added this line:
Of course, those numbers might be slightly skewed due to the fact that Alexandre Bilodeau is probably getting more action than a urinal puck in the washroom of Molson Canadian Hockey House since winning Canada’s first gold medal on home soil.
Rumour has it, he even keeps a picture of his brother Frederic on the nightstand for added inspiration. (OK, we apologize for that in advance.)
Of course, they refer to the brother of the man who earned Canada's first gold medal on home soil, Frédéric Bilodeau, who has cerebral palsy. The reaction from readers was not good.
In this letter published in last Wednesday's paper, reader Les Ewener states:
Whoever the sleaze bag is who writes Kudos and Kvetches, the disgusting comment in last Friday's Courier regarding our new national hero Alex Bilodeau is simply unforgivable.
You obviously realized it was completely out of line and distasteful when you wrote it, as you apologized in advance. Why was it printed at all?
If I were the editor, I'd give you a long unpaid vacation. Shame on you for this cowardly slam against a terrific young man and outstanding Canadian role model. A disgusted former reader of your Kudos and Kvetches.
With the Games in full swing and the streets full of locals and many visitors, Courier editor Barry Link penned his own cute "Vancouver FAQ" to get his viewpoints about what makes our city tick. Take for example this generous opinion of the city's ruling Vision Vancouver party:
The current Vision Vancouver regime that runs city hall is a sophisticated coalition of social and environmental progressives backed by the biggest land developers in the city.
Posing the question "who is the smartest Vancouverite"? Link responds:
Pot crusader Marc Emery (born in Ontario), science fiction writer William Gibson (born in South Carolina), writer and artist Douglas Coupland (born in Germany) and aggressively non-fictional City of Vancouver manager Penny Ballem (born in Quebec).
I'll give you that the once best-selling authors are clever, but should Vancouver's chief pothead and nanomanaging City Manager be on the list too? Nice of him to suggest that no one born and raised here rates either. Well, it was a bit much for Courier readers, who responded this way:
Wow, I am in disbelief that this article made it to print. I have lived here my entire life and have never read a more uneducated assessment of Vancouver.
Our most intelligent list is topped by Marc Emery? Really? Last time I checked he was a pothead serving time in prison. And he made our most famous list alongside others I have never heard of. And what of our non-existent relationship with the rest of Canada, B.C. and our loathing of the suburbs. Sounds like whoever wrote this has his own personal issues.
Another letter writer says this:
I wish I could express my opinion towards Barry Link's article in a few words, but there are so many lame, stupid things in it, it would be impossible. I read the Courier on and off, mainly get it for the flyers that come along. I am used to the obsessive bad attitude towards the city your publication bears name, and many times wonder why on Earth so many of your staff keep insisting on living here if they hate it so much. But this time your arrogance has reached a new low. Link's article sounds more like a pathetic attempt to bring the spirit of the city's dwellers down, perhaps to his level. Vancouver welcomed him 15 years ago and it seems since he first put foot here he disliked it. Why are you still here? It might be because no matter where he goes the stench of his persona will follow him and he has to blame a whole city for it?
My city needs to get rid of vermin like Link, so full of hatred he has the nerve to spew it on the pages of a publication.
Now I'm sure there are plenty of people who find that the Courier's crabby editorial bent suits them to a tee, and we know that plenty of folks didn't much care for Vancouver's Olympics. The question is however, is that audience big enough to sell ads for grocery and hardware stores?
Maybe as a coupon delivery mechanism, the Vancouver Courier works perfectly.
That was actually the last issue I ever picked up of the Courier. It was so negative as to be embarassing. Glad I wasn't the only one.
How vile! How tasteless! How mean!
What a disservice to the amazing moment that Alexandre and Frederic Bilodeau gave us during these Olympics.
But that, in a nutshell, is the Vancouver Courier for you.
By the way, did they delete all of the comments from the story on their website?
Isn't it about time this Kudos and Kvetches features removes the cloak of anonymity for the hacks who pen these mean-spirited pieces?
The Courier's editorial has taken a far left wing slant that may be popular with the editorial's friends down at the local coffee shop, but they are woefully out of touch with the changing demographics in East Van.
Allen Garr is noticeably silent and never criticizes the Vision City Hall anymore even though there's much to criticize. Journalistic balance of any source has disappeared from Van Courier. In fact, the editors are so deluded that they actually that their crowd of readers is like them. They couldn't be further from the truth.
Just look at home prices in East Van. Or the composition of the immigrant population. Many East Van residents think the Courier is a radical rag with ludicrous ideas. Maybe it should count its followers among the Downtown East Side because it is certainly out of touch with the reality of much of East Van.
I hope that all families impacted by cerebral palsy phone the Courier's editor to express their disgust. Shame on the Courier. Shame. I will never read that paper ever again!!
"Rumour has it, he even keeps a picture of his brother Frederic on the nightstand for added inspiration."
With all of the Canadian patriotism going around since the Olympics, I sure hope that the Courier receives a good "financial" kick in the ass.
How many pages would the Straight be if it only had one version of every ad instead of half a dozen or so?
The Bilodeau piece made me cringe too but I generally find Kudos and Kvetches very witty. But I like crabby humour. K & K didn't happen to take aim at CityCaucus recently did they? I'm just wondering what prompted this post.
I suppose the Courier could up it's readership, and maybe even increase ad revenue, if it started pimping for hookers like the Straight instead of delivering flyers for local grocers.
Also Mike, math may not be your forte but the Courier publishes twice for, 32 (give or take) x 2 = 64 (give or take) pages a week.
There has been a significant shift in the past few years in local publications editorial policies. In order to make themselves more 'relevant' & readable to the perceived limited attention span of the internet masses they have blurred the traditional newspaper format of [relatively] unbiased 'reporting' alongside editorial comment instead with a cadre of 'columnists' who are to often as short on accuracy as they are wanting in their opinions as you have confirmed above. As I recall when this shift was discussed a few years back they were banking their survival on it.
Well, it isn't working, so maybe they better rethink again. The Courier is not the only culprit.
One of the other consequences of this bordering on 'yellow' journalism is that certain publications appear to have made editorial decisions to support Vision apparently because they think 'green'. I supported some aspects of Vision before the election. But, just saying you want to be green is not enough. In the thick of it since the election Vision is being found wanting again & again but, there is little reporting of alternative perspectives & letters to the editor coupled with columnists who read like cheerleaders. Why don't we have a Vaughn Palmer on the civic scene?
anything canwest is garbage that's why it's bankrupt
I stopped reading the Courier because of Allan Garr years ago. But those comments about Bilodeau confirmed why my paper boy was asked to keep walking on by. How can the advertisers in the Courier stay with that paper? Shame on them and shame on the Courier. Perhaps your readers should start phoning up people who advertise in the Courier and tell them we're going to take our business elsewhere. Then perhaps they'll get the message that this is awful journalism.
Wow...I used to read the Courier on an occasional basis. But after that sick comment about Bilodeau, it's going straight in the blue box where that crap belongs. It's one thing to be critical, it's another to be abhorrent. Thanks for drawing my attention to this.
Tasteless, classless and vile comments about Frederic Bilodeau.
It's a rag in the purest sense of the word.
Well said, Mike. It's important for members of the media to critique each other. Why leave it up to locals who pen response letters that may or may not be printed?
Thanks!