Because the firing of Russell Mills story is malleable enough to suit a range of topics, you may notice this blog bend away from Web building and Web journalism issues for a bit — but I have no plans to turn this into the press freedom (or whatever) equivalent of a warblog.

Christie Blatchford, one of the few writers at both the Sun and the Post I have ever regularly read, has an excellent column in today’s Post explaining in her typical style the effects of CanWest’s recent actions on its journalists.

Over at the Star, Antonia Zerbisias questions the motives behind the Asper’s apparent need to protect Chrétien. Might it be related to their desire to loosen foreign-ownership rules, she asks?

(There are no real foreign-ownership rules, just a series of tax penalties buried within Section 19 of the Income Tax Act.)

A counter-point to the fearful tone of her column was made by David Akin (of CTV and the Globe) on the CAJ List. To dramatically summarize, he argued lifting foreign-ownership rules may not be so bad if, and only if, “Ottawa increases and guarantees funding for CBC radio and television current affairs and news programming.” His comments for the first time made me question my opposition to foreign ownership.

(While searching for information about the foreign-ownership rules, I came across an comprehensive report on the Competition Act, which directly address the concerns about the concentration in the newspaper industry. There is also this recent overview of newspaper ownership which reached some interesting conclusions.)

The markets, too, have reacted to the events — and in situations like this, markets are great at indicating the mood. CanWest’s subordinate voting shares (CGS.S-T) has lost almost 12 percent of its value this week. It’s non-voting shares (CGS.A-T) have lost about nine percent over the same period. Both have lost almost half their 52-week highs, and, today both closed well below their 52-week lows.

On my desk are links. Reminders of places I’d like to go, souvenirs from the visits of others.

One of the most sublime is Born magazine. For the first time in a very long-time I was emotional engaged by Web art and writing.

Related only in its title’s tone is font magazine. Issue 2 has an article about typography and the news, which includes an interesting observation how each medium used type to convey the events of September 11.