The next two weeks are do-or-die for The Independent.
CBC Radio has just reported that the paper is on its last legs, after majority owner Brian Dobbin pulled his financial backing from the paper.
In an interview with Jonathan Crowe of CBC, editor Ryan Cleary said the paper is now actively looking for new investors, and that Dobbin has agreed to float the operation for another two weeks. Cleary said there are several businesspeople in town who are interested in investing in the paper.
In typical bombastic style, Cleary accused Telegram salespeople of targeting the Independent's advertisers and attempting to lure them away by offering reductions of up to 40 per cent.
I fired off a quick note to Russell Wangersky, managing editor of The Telegram, to ask if this was correct. A reply came back within minutes.
"A simple answer - his claims are completely false," Wangersky said. "And if that's the quality of Cleary's reporting, that says a lot about the Independent's standard for accuracy."
More on this story later.
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