He might actually attract some experienced writers to work for his rag, the Spindy.
As John Gushue notes, our own low-rent Conrad Black - Brian Dobbin - is vacating his column on the editorial page of his own personal yellow sheet in favour of...guest columns.
He doesn't have to pay for guest columns.
Surprise. Surprise.
If Dobbin hadn't nickel and dimed locked out CBC reporter David Cochrane and then kicked him in the crotch for good measure with the lame "Die CBC, die" editorial a few weeks ago, Dobbin might have better stuff gracing his pages than the recycled or one-source wonders the Spindy usually prints. No one told CBC staffers they couldn't work for Dobbin's little sweat-rag.
They decided to avoid a guy who clearly has no regard for the news or for staff. Cleary and Dobbin's little tag-team routine the past couple of weeks defending Dobbin's crass and - typically - ill-informed opinion just confirm the extent these two share the same low standards of journalistic integrity. I am severely disappointed in Ryan.
But then Dobbin wouldn't be able to use the Spindy as his own homage to Joe Pulitzer. Cochrane is used to basing a story on pesky things called facts, not the sort of crap (figure out the ending and then collect up some quotes to fit the preconceived ending) that usually assault public eyeballs each Sunday.
Anyone remember the Chuck Furey fiasco about the Terra Nova project? One source. Fit with Dobbin's own ill-founded ideas. Got printed. Then the one source recanted.
That was good for a few yucks.
Incidentally, is it a coincidence that Dobbin is vacating the column (and its fawning praise for our beloved Premier) now that he has his reward - an appointment to a business advisory committee on Ireland?
Will Brian be able to bill his own business trips to the Emerald Isle to the taxpayers of Newfoundland and Labrador, all the while trumpeting the virtues of free enterprise and condemning publicly-funded anything?