Category Archives: Newspaper shots

Newspaper shots, Vancouver Island

George

3 Comments

George wanted to express his  thoughts more delicately and elegantly  than his email which I published earlier. 

Dear Bob Cain (if that’s your real name),

 

I’m sorry you lost such an integral portion of your income when the Comox District Free Press closed in 1994 (after a fight to the death between Thomson Newspapers and the GCIU union). I can understand why an editor wouldn’t pay for your photographs, but to not publish them? It boggles the mind.

 

I moved to the U.S. in 1998 and published newspapers around Puget Sound, most recently The Olympian in Olympia. Never once did you send me a photograph of your friends doing strange things on Hornby Island, as you liked to do almost daily back in the old country.

 

But I have good news. I’ve retired and moved back home to Comox, and started a website for news, commentary and photography called Decafnation.net. And I would love to publish some of your new work.

According to my accountant’s calculations based on the cost of living, the inflation rate and how many times you’ve made fun of me on your so-called personal website, I can afford to pay FIVE TIMES what I used to pay you. Wow! I can’t believe I said that. I’m so generous.

All I require is some proof that you’re the real Bob Cain. You could be faking it. I notice, for example, that there isn’t one picture of you on your so-called website. Sound suspicious? I think so.

Your benefactor,

George Le Masurier

Check out his site. If you care about what’s going on in Courtenay/Comox this is the place. Decafnation.net.

Newspaper shots

Free Press

2 Comments

Hi Bob,

To answer your questions, the Free Press closed in 1994 in a fight to the death battle between our owners (Thomson Newspapers) and the GCIU union. I moved to the state in 1998 to start a newspaper in Federal Way, WA, about a half-hour south of Seattle on the 5. Then I served as President/CEO of Sound Publishing which owned 17 newspapers in WA state. While there I was recruited by McClatchy Newspapers to publish the Tacoma News Tribune and, later, The Olympian in Olympia.
The remaining newspaper in the Valley is owned by Black Press, which isn’t interested in journalism, only in flyer insert revenue. It’s a rapidly changing industry.
 George
George wanted to share his thoughts more elegantly so I’ve posted his new reply on Dec 29/2017. 
Newspaper shots

This is it!

6 Comments

The last picture I had published in a Courtenay newspaper. Of course, I wasn’t paid. (self promotion) Sometime  in 1998 I received a letter stating that they were unable to pay for photos any more. So thus ended any news reporting  of Hornby or Denman events. The remaining newspapers were concentrating on revenue from ads and flyers.

George Le Masurier had disappeared in 1994 when The Comox District Free Press lost a battle with the union. I contiued to send photos to The Comox Valley Record until the fateful correspondence arrived. This seems to be the only functioning news outlet in Courtenay. I don’t know if The Comox Valley Echo is still publishing but in those days it assumed it’s name with a vengeance. Not interested in news outside Courtenay. Just ‘echoed ‘ it’s bigger brother and told us about all the goodies we could buy in Safeway et al. However, on the bright side the Record seems to be doing more news stories. They even published something about Denman recently!(I’ve just noticed that the Echo has merged with the Record which is probably due to pressure from internet social sites)

As you may have noticed, George and I had a great and fun relationship. He treated me with  respect. (Even when I had to remind him about missing money) And, what’s more important is that before the internet introduced social media the people of Denman and Hornby got to learn about what was happening in their communities. So, thanks George for those  unforgettable years.

Going to take a break from this series. Even I didn’t realize how many photos I’d published in those years! Here’s a graphic of those photos I haven’t shown you. Don’t worry, they’ll all appear on the site some day.