Since the National Post redesigned and opened itself up I’ve been visiting the site a lot more often. Not my brand of politics (and what’s with all of the society photo spreads – are you serious?), but still, the writing is often very strong and it’s not easy, in this small country, to access multiple perspectives on Canadian news. And while it’s still early days in online advertising, I have to think that the Post is going to notice my visits, multiplied across thousands of browsers, in the bottom line.
And so, finally: this could get interesting. Once upon a time, not that long ago, there really was just the Globe for online news and opinion (OK, not only only, but yes, ultimately, only). Andrew has left the Post to hopefully invigorate Maclean’s online, which was already developing an interesting portfolio of bloggy material (like Scott Feschuk) and is getting newsier by the day. (And if anyone in Canadian newspapers and magazines gets online, it’s Andrew.)
But at the end of the day, the Post has limited its upside by focusing too much on the uber-wealthy and the uber-right, to my mind. There are only so many Canadians who care about what people in fancy clothes did last Saturday, or who have an appetite for the Post’s politics. So, is this what comes next? Meet us closer to the middle, and this will really get interesting.