What do you do when you’re locked out from your own paper? Set up a website of course and investigate the allegations and goings-on behind the stand-off.
Such is the story of Canadian website Ruefrontenac.com, the work of 253 employees from Quebec newspaper Journal de Montreal who have been ‘locked out’ by their employer Quebecor following dispute over jobs and working hours between the publisher and the union.
“Ruefrontenac.com has set up in an old dance studio overlooking the Journal’s parking lot.
“The journalists choose their own topics to write about without having to consider corporate interests, Bousquet [Richard Bousquet, the website’s co-ordinator] said. ‘It’s a bit of a journalistic experiment.’
“Journalists divide their time producing content and picketing.”