Free newspapers

In this city in the last three weeks, a furious newspaper war has emerged, between free newspapers. I kid you not.  The first entry was called  Metro, and it has been around in European cities for a while, and was introduced to Toronto last year. Arriving about four days later was something called Dose, a cross between a tabloid and an alternative paper (featuring the politics of the former crossed with the hip factor of the latter.) Dose is, in fact, so hip, that the paper meshes with a website where you can start a blog, a blog that the paper may quote the next day. The interactivity between the printed version and the online content is what makes it stand out.

Of course, the local tabloid, the Ottawa Sun, is peeved. They point out, quite correctly, that CanWest is behind both of the free dailies. But the Sun dropped their price down to a quarter anyway. The free newspaper war has been a plus for me, however. I always have something to read on the bus, whether I happen to have a quarter on me or not!