“We have been trying to keep it alive,” he explained. Add the Georgia Straight to its list.Įditor Charlie Smith asked if that meant they should stop posting stories to the Straight’s website.
The venture, which lists him as co-founder and executive chairman, announced plans to start or acquire 50 brands by 2023. Victoria-based Andrew Wilkinson made a fortune in tech and had already launched Capital Daily news site when last year he poured startup investment into Overstory Media Group. Kirk MacDonald, the former president of the Straight’s corporate entity, told writers the company had been liquidated as a result of the bankruptcy proceedings of its indebted owner. 27, the Straight’s staff were called into a meeting that elicited more questions than answers. “And then they did, and it all went down the toilet.” “Our plan was to keep it running until somebody bought it and hopefully things would turn around,” said Steve Newton, who published his first words in the Straight 40 years ago. The paper’s former staff now find themselves trying to navigate a labyrinth of bankruptcy and labour law to get back the money they are owed while trying to balance their own mortgages and rents. It was irreverent, feisty, colourful, unafraid of being controversial, and often willing to do and say what others would only hint at. The Straight changed over the years, but many members of its core team stuck with the paper. The other side says they’re not responsible,” Dunphy said.Īll counted up, Dunphy estimates the terminated staff at the Straight collectively spent around 300 years working at the paper, often keeping it afloat. Overstory specifically stipulated in its purchase of the Straight that Media Central - now bankrupt - was responsible for paying severance.ĭunphy says he learned that Overstory had bought the Straight when he saw an interview with Mohamed in a local business publication. Overstory Media Group bought the paper’s assets - intellectual property, website and content - but not its liabilities, which includes any pay owed to staff.įormer executives at Media Central have not responded to requests for comment.įarhan Mohamed, the CEO of Overstory, has said the previous owners are responsible for not paying their employees and that his company never terminated anyone. The Straight’s previous owner, Media Central Corporation Inc., is bankrupt after a two-year blitz that saw it acquire a few of Canada’s largest alt-weekly publications, hemorrhaging cash along the way. “When I started at the paper, it was a few pages and we didn’t know if we’d get paid,” said Dunphy, whose first job at the Straight was selling copies of the paper on the cobblestone streets of Gastown for beer money in 1973. Please enable JavaScript before you proceed. Your browser either doesn't support JavaScript or you have it turned off. Please consider becoming a new friend of The Tyee by signing up as a Tyee Builder today.
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