The crappy local newspaper

On Saturday, I bought a print newspaper for the first time in a very, very long time. And I'm still outraged.

The Montreal Gazette has the feel of small-town community newspaper. This in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is poorly written and extremely anti-French (even in its movie and food reviews). Saturday's front page story was about the mother of the runner-up of the recent Miss Philippines Montreal contest suing for damages because her daughter should have won. Sigh.

And don't get me started on the Asper aspect and lack of editorial freedom.

But in this issue, it was two ads that hit me, both likely produced in-house.

On pA8, one-third of a page, at bottom. A photo of Jon Stewart, with the credit "Courtesy CTV," and the following text at right:
THE GAZETTE is MONTREAL
INTELLIGENT TELEVISION
How can one telvsion [sic] show be nominated for best comedy, best news show and best program all at once? Check our report on The Daily Show, starring Jon Stewart, who has been described as "one of the smartest acts on TV."
In Sunday

On pC3, full-page colour ad with landscape orientation. Three-quarters of the page is a team photo, with the following text at right:
The Montreal Alouettes Defensive Line
This photograph is brought to you by The Gazette's Raise-a-Reader program and the Montreal Alouettes Foundations' Adopt-an-Alouette program, wich [sic]support literacy and education for children.
[Logos placed here.]
Look for the Alouettes team photo next Saturday.

It's just that the point size is ssooo large. And the irony: "intelligent televsion"; "wich support literacy"!

I expect better than this. They should hire me.

Perhaps it's another sign of the sloppy state of English in Montreal. Errors in basic spelling and grammar are rampant. Montreal, though proud of its bilingualism, has yet to realize that some situations require an English (or French) language specialist — perfect bilingualism rarely exists.