CFN – One of the reasons traditional media has lost so much ground to new media such as CFN is because of the public perception that it’s not truthful.
Recently the Freeholder ran a full page ad bestowing to advertisers mostly their numbers and good stuff. The only thing is that if you’re not honest with the public you hurt an entire industry.
The full page ad is essentially like our monthly recap of numbers. LINK As anyone that read their full page ad saw they omitted CFN which for over two years has been the most read Newspaper in this market.
The Freeholder keeps referring in the many stories written about myself or CFN as a blog. However we have broken story after story that they have refused to cover. We are an online newspaper as our countless others in this industry. Why the lie?
Mould in the CCU of our only hospital. Not covered by the Freeholder.
Wal-Mart bouncing bus drivers yearly fundraiser for CHEO. Nope, not news to the Freeholder; but when CFN covered it Wal-Mart reversed their decision and the bus drivers set a record raising $14,200 for our children.
Violent Search Warrant and nabbing of suspect. Nope. Not in the Free Holder.
Their reporters walk by protesters in front of City Hall refusing to cover the important issues and most gravely they attack CFN most recently straight out lying by publishing Claude McIntosh’s column that stated that I had written that Denis Thibault had been fired by the EOTB which of course I clearly had not written. Mr. McIntosh, already nailed for his lies about Councilor Rivette and local lawyer Etienne St. Aubin, did not have a column published this week.
Hi Brian,
I did not ever type that Denis Thibault had been fired from his job at the EOTB.If you guys want to run amok and have fun great. By all means do your dandiest, but let’s stick to the truth and not fiction.I am demanding a front page retraction this week and an apology from Claude to lead off his upcoming column.
Dear Mr. Gilcig:
A May 21, 2013 piece on cornwallfreenews.com states: “Now word is that [Thibault] may be losing his plum gig as head of the Eastern Ontario Training Board.”
There is no basis for your demand for a retraction and apology.
Yours truly,
Tycho Manson
Director, Legal Affairs
Quebecor Media Inc.
My reply:
Dear Mr Manson,
I assume that you are far too educated to not realize the very very real difference between the word “may” and stating something as fact?I again am respectfully asking that this gross lie be remedied in the manner I’ve politely requested.I did not type as you’ve shared with your reply, that Mr. Thibault was fired.Sincerely,Jamie Gilcig
Dear Mr. Gilcig:
The article published on your site clearly implied that Thibault had lost his position.
The Standard Freeholder will not publish a retraction or apology in relation to this matter. Should you choose to take this further, the Standard Freeholder will defend itself vigorously and will seek to recover the costs of doing so to the full extent permitted by the court.
Your truly,
Tycho Manson
Director, Legal Affairs
Quebecor Media Inc.
banter:
Dear Mr. Manson,
That language sounds very threatening. My piece asked a question. It did not imply. Even if it did imply it was not a statement of fact as Mr. McIntosh has written.I am again asking you, and this will be my last request to do so, that the Free Holder retract and apologize for stating an obvious lie and mitigate the damage it has caused by printing something blatantly not true.And that recovery of legal cost you mention would be a two way street as well right? If we had to issue suit, which I’m not threatening or suggesting now, we also would have to recover our legal costs to ask a judge to rectify this lie, correct sir?There’s been a pattern of statements that the Freeholder has been publishing via McIntosh that is very very disturbing; against myself and CFN, and against others such as Mr. St. Aubin. Surely this is not professional or acceptable for decent journalism; especially by media that are signatories to agencies that administer standards.Sincerely,Jamie Gilcig
Dear Mr. Gilcig:
I am not threatening you. I am telling you that if you consider this worth suing over, the SF will defend itself and will seek to recover the costs of doing so, as would be its right, assuming it is successful. There is no basis for a retraction or apology and the SF will not be publishing one.
Yours truly,
Tycho Manson
Director, Legal Affairs
Quebecor Media Inc.
333 King Street East
Toronto, ON, M5A 3X5
Mr. McIntosh was not published this weekend as is his norm. Hopefully he’s ok. Maybe he’s on vacation from retirement or maybe he’s been chopped? Why should anyone have to sue when such a blatant lie was written? Is it all about financial damage. Is one’s reputation and the truth always about money?
Why lie? Why spin? Why not just work harder and compete? It’s not rocket science. Why throw voodoo numbers out to confuse the public and cause more distrust of our industry?
Why brag about 600K pageviews per month and lie about being number one when the Freeholder hasn’t been number one in over two years, and CFN has not had a month under 2 million page views per month in all of 2013?
Anyone can go to Alexa.com and get an apples and apples and oranges and oranges web traffic comparison. 24/7 – it’s an industry standard.
As I write this CFN’s Canadian rankings as of print time is: 4,216. The Freeholder’s is 5,546, their highest rating of the year and partially done by writing about myself and CFN which they’ve done 5 times in six weeks including two front page stories!
Klout.com measures Social Media footprint. CFN’s Klout score is 63 on a scale of 1-100 with 100 being best. The Freeholder’s Klout score; 54. Nothing to be ashamed of, but certainly nowhere near being number one.
The sad question; the big question; the money question is simply why omit CFN from this chart if you truly are number one? Why refuse in story after story to refer to us as a Blog instead of the fact that we are not only an online newspaper, but the most read newspaper in Cornwall? And if we were a blog then are you stating that a long standing newspaper can’t keep up with a blog?
There’s no shame in being number two. We were. If you want to be number one work harder. Compete. Earn your readers. Don’ t lie to them. And stand up for the public and serve the public like CFN does if you truly want the public’s support.
Recently there was an awesome story that pulled in over 40,000 pageviews in a single day and was picked up on Bourque Newswatch. The people called us because the Free-Holder was closed on a Saturday. At least that was what they said. News is 24/7. There are no days off. There are no moments off. Bourque btw is the Drudgereport of Canada. CFN is on their homepage under news publications. The Freeholder? Nope. I’m listed as a pundit on Bourque. Anyone from the Freeholder? Nope. Which is the true news outlet? Most of the Freeholder is Sun chain material. Nothing wrong with that as they are a proud part of the Sun chain. Local content? Um…erm….
Serve the public and tell the truth. The public will decide the rest.
Because once you’re caught lying; as the Freeholder has; then it casts a shadow on everything a management team and ownership stand for and have done.
How many other stories did the Free Holder not share with Cornwall? How many others did they lie about?
Only they can answer that.
Fight fair Brian and Peter. Don’t tarnish the lustre that over 200 years of history have gone into the Freeholder and this proud community. We all deserve better.
And this is also a lesson about how important locally owned media are to the life of a community.
Rock on!
Jamie Gilcig – Editor – The Cornwall Free News, #1 and the most read Newspaper in Cornwall Ontario since 2010!
UPDATE
A reader sent in the following:
Read your piece. While you are on the topic of lies you might want to point out the S-F has not been in existence since 1846. They are off by almost 100 years. If anyone, the people running the S-F should know that!!
There were two newspapers. The Standard and The Freeholder. One was Conservative by nature and one was Liberal. The Free Holder didn’t even look at their own Wikipedia link to accurately portray their history to the public.
The Standard-Freeholder is a daily newspaper in Cornwall and the counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. The Cornwall Standard Freeholder is one of the oldest newspapers in Canada.
The current newspaper began as two publications, the Freeholder, which was founded by the first premier of Ontario, John Sandfield Macdonald, and the Standard.
The two newspapers were amalgamated in 1932 and the first issue was published on April 30 of that year. The Standard-Freeholder became a daily newspaper on April 1, 1941.
If you can’t get your own dates accurate what does that say about your Standards? 🙂
Playing devil’s advocate here: is it possible that the SF reaches more eyeballs than the CFN with its web site and hard copy combined?
Their story does not state it include print numbers.
In other words, they’ve left themselves some wiggle room to make a counterclaim.
Mr. Manson obviously can’t read! I got exactly what was meant in the article as did most people with any intelligence, he but he is trying to use “smoke and mirrors” to justify the obvious lie printed!!!! They are definitely after you Jamie!
Very small town intelligence on behalf of “the toilet paper of record – SF” and I don’t read or look at anything of theirs whatsoever. I gave you my word Jamie that is if you are gone from CFN I will be finished as a reader. CFN is the only paper that gives the sheeple the truth. The problem is that the sheeple can’t take the truth so they jump down your back.
i would be surprised if more than a 7 people understand this story or its implications.
I hope that Claude McIntosh got canned! We certainly don’t need to read his style of journalism! Keep up the good work Jamie G.
Being from this area,pretty much everybody knows what everybody is doing. I read CFN to see who got caught.
The Freeholder can’t hold a candle to CFN. They aren’t even in the same league!!! Too much fluff, too much omitted important coverage and too many lies! I have noticed what you mentioned Jamie about the mould in the hospital and protesters outside city hall and nothing printed! Somebody is either sleeping with somebody or people there just don’t know how to run a proper newspaper.
Secondly, that MacIntosh needs to be canned. If anyone is ruining the Freeholder it is him. He needs to be kicked to the curb(and then kicked again…hell ya). What a joke.
People can easily google and see who is the news leader in town that covers all the important issues! Thanks CFN!!!!!
The only thing that changes on a regular basis in the Freeloader are the lies and the death notices.
I lived for more than 30 years under the communist dictatorship. I know what the censorship means in newspapers and mass media. How they tried to push down on the throat of the people the propaganda and lies. It is very sad to experience similar situation after 30 years. SF should rename itself Censorship Holder because it is anything but Free. On the other hand the city council working hard on waste reduction, so my contribution is to cancel SF, resulting in less paper in my blue box.
The SF tries to control & hide many truths that would not see the light of day.Why would anyone want to read lies when we have CFN to cover local issues more effectly Claude should be fired ASAP for his bungling stories & lies.He should have left gracefully but his besty friend Bobblehead still needs him to continue defending him Sorry SF but it is sour grapes
Claude Mac and Cheese was supposed to retire but as long as he is there to pull the fleece over the sheeple of Fossoli’s eyes he will always be there until he cashes in. All those who purchase that “toilet paper of record” – SF – should not complain since they are all part of the problem. If you were the solution you would not purchase that rag nor would you even read it.
Mr. Manson’s selective reading and apparent comprehension skills seem to reflect an all but to familiar ploy when someone now is caught in the proverbial headlights. MacDonalds does not attack Burger King or vice versa they simply co-exist and benefit from friendly or strategic competition without playground antics.
The Standard Freeholder would do likely more for its tarnished image by following the above model of competition rather than taking the seemingly desperate low road that they have been traveling. In addition, if they(Quebecor Media Inc.) could find an editor that truly cared for the news business I am sure it would serve better for their bottom line. I had, in time past, tried to have the editor return my inquiries regarding the seeming lack of attention to detail, namely spelling and grammar, but to no avail.
The resulting conclusion was that no one at the paper seemed to really give a damn. So I went elsewhere. It was a good decision.
If I wanted to listen to lies I could simply watch reruns of Dalton’s political campaign speeches.
@STAN STALK
Personally, Stan, I could care less whether Claude was canned. I do not wish any ill for poor Claude after all no longer being relevant is enough in itself.
Dalton McGuinty is a nightmare and he lives in my riding and has his law office here as well. God forbid I have him living here in my area of town. Dalton wrecked Ontario more so than it ever was and liar to boot.
You cant Fire Claude he is retired and still has time to convince the SF to let him still print stuff. His days have been done for years. GIVE IT UP CLAUDE its OLD NOW.
I noticed this blatant omission of CFN right away. Why the SF would omit you is beyond comprehension, except that they knew that you had the numbers that they wanted and hoped that no one would notice your omission. I truly think that this was done on purpose so that they would not advertise your on-line paper in any way, so as to not loose any more readers than they already have. What a silly thing to do! Now that’s what I call straightforward and honest journalism! Ha!
Miss Steak I loved Mr. Padbury missing his daily history of his paper by 100 years 🙂
@ ADMIN
How ironic that a reporting service whose principal purpose is to relay facts to their public should make such an inept guess at their own length of existence. Humour in the purest form !
I’ve stopped reading and buying the Freeholder years ago. From personal experience, it’s all about greed and making the big bucks so they can survive their newspaper in Cornwall. Unless they happen to care which they don’t in my opinion where as a customer it’s about getting the bigger, costly adds and stories they only wish to do with limited resources I may add. Screwing the people over their lack of good service (delivery) of their so-called newspaper. It’s a joke. They don’t care. In fact, unless they get their mega dollars to place their ads or bogus garbage stories which most is a lot of rubbish, they just simply refuse to take “real” stories, about real people in our city which is quite their downfall over many years. I believe you are what this city wants and needs Jamie. Some retailers and business owners sadly can’t do too much as yet but as time prevails, I hope if everyone boycotts the SF, they would go under pretty fast. Who wants to read crap and never get the true stories?? Certainly not I. Just add another bs lie to make them look better till they are caught!! Good for you. Let the truth be known. We have enough corruption and deceit as is in this city, they simply add to the can of those worms.
Google the name “Tycho Manson” and all sorts of goodies comes up on this guy.
Tycho Manson has been involved with bloggers before
http://www.lawtimesnews.com/20100621912/headline-news/lawbuzz-posters-had-added-duty-advicescene