Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, November 06, 2014

Toronto Star's Paywall Gone In 2015

TORONTO - Torstar Corp. (TSX:TS.B) says it plans to tear down the digital paywall at the country's largest newspaper, the Toronto Star, as it focuses on developing a new tablet app to be launched next year.

The owner of the Toronto Star and other publications is switching gears in its digital strategy of delivering content across multiple platforms — a move it's betting will attract more readers and bring national advertisers back into the fold.

"This is an important strategic step forward for the Star and for Torstar as we commit to our future of cross-platform, a future that we recognize will be increasing mobile," Torstar president and CEO David Holland told analysts during a conference call Wednesday.

Torstar has signed a deal with Montreal's La Presse newspaper to develop a new tablet product for the Toronto Star based on the technology and experience the Quebec publisher used when producing its own iPad app in 2013. The French-language newspaper invested $40 million developing the tablet edition, La Presse+, over two years. It launched in 2013.

Executives at Torstar have been encouraged by La Presse's success with its tablet app and said the partnership will create potential marketing opportunities for advertisers who want to access both English and French readers.

La Presse+ has been able to do what most Canadian media companies crave: attract a highly engaged, younger audience who use the tablet app for an average of 45 minutes a day, and up to an hour on Saturdays.

"These are numbers we've haven't see in the digital world at all to date. We're tremendously excited about that," said John Cruickshank, publisher of the Toronto Star and president of the Star Media Group.

Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.ca/
Author: CP | By Linda Nguyen

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