(First published December 28, 1999)

At industry functions, Michael Goldbloom, president and publisher of Montreal's The Gazette, occasionally sits at the press table.

It's a place where publishers of other major urban dailies are rarely, if ever, seen. Goldbloom doesn't write articles about the events, although he occasionally takes notes of some comment by a speaker.

"I think I write reasonably well, and I thought when I came here, I might do a bit, but time just doesn't permit it," says the publisher of Montreal's only English daily. "But I remain interested in and want to contribute to the editorial orientation of the paper. My predecessor took the approach that editorial was separate and the publisher focused on the business end. But I'd be uncomfortable if I wasn't responsible for the whole paper."

Maybe, says Goldbloom, his attitude stems from the fact that, unlike his predecessor, he comes from Montreal and is more familiar with such topics as Montreal and Quebec politics, culture and economic life.

Volunteer Work Curtailed

But keeping his finger on the pulse of every aspect of the 221-year-old paper also extracts long hours and leaves Goldbloom little time for the community service for which he is well noted. In fact, while his curriculum vitae lists only four jobs: The Gazette editorial board member (1980); Martineau Walker labour lawyer (1981-91); Montreal YMCA president and CEO ('91-'94) and The Gazette president and publisher (since June 1/94), his community service work entails well over a full page of interests, memberships and leadership positions in educational, religious, social service, human rights, heritage and political organizations.

Unfortunately, he has had to step back from most of such activities.

"I was in political life (as founding member and eventual president of Alliance Quebec) which is a fascinating and gratifying experience, but I don't want to be part of a controversy when The Gazette is covering the political scene," he says.

That's particularly important with talk, again, of another referendum. " The Gazette 's role is to inform its readers of all issues in a balanced, non-partisan way. It's editorial position, however, is definitely for Canadian unity."

Time constraints and appropriateness of a publisher's involvement in other aspects have also limited but not totally erased Goldbloom's other volunteer activities. Like other Gazette employees, who are encouraged to be involved in children's school activities, he is as well, as a member of the board of directors of Selwyn House School, although he and his wife of 11 years, Fiona Macleod, do not have children. (Macleod works in the administration of Galafilm Inc., a documentary and feature film company.)

Like many corporate business heads, he also does fundraising for Centraide, the largest charitable organization (counterpart of United Way) in Montreal. And, as publisher, he heads The Gazette Christmas Fund, the newspaper's own charity, supported by the paper's readers, which collects about $1 million annually and donates hundreds of cheques to the needy during the Christmas period. All funds go to charity, with The Gazette absorbing administration costs.

Impact of New Presses

While Goldbloom's days are already long, starting at the office or a business breakfast by 8:15 a.m. and usually ending by 7:30 or 8 p.m., chances are the pace will pick up even more as The Gazette gets closer to officially launching new offset presses in year 2000.

Replacing current 40-plus year old presses, the new ones will have a major impact on the look of the newspaper, offering advantages to both readers and advertisers. To be located in a new printing plant inwestern Montreal,the presses are a $63 million project.

"It wasn't easy to convince Southam ( The Gazette 's owner) and Hollinger (Southam's owner), to make such a big investment in the English market in Montreal," Goldbloom says. "In order to do so, we had to improve the financial performance of the paper. We did, by reducing costs in production, distribution, advertising. We reduced staff and expenses in all departments except editorial. The focus of the management team is that we're first of all in the business of gathering, editing and disseminating information, so for the past five years, we've protected those expenditures. Editorial staff and spending have remained stable."

The new presses will mean changes for the staff that man them as well as for the company's mail room. Employees will move to a brighter, nicer environment with easier-to-operate machinery.

"While the presses will require less manning, no full time employees will lose employment," says Goldbloom. The new presses also mean a move for production people from a four-day-week to a five.

A soft introduction of the new presses means that various delivery areas will see examples of a new paper during the months before the full September launch. The final product will be a totally newly designed newspaper, slightly shorter (similar in size to Le Soleil and The Toronto Star and resulting in cost reductions on paper), with compelling photographs, much more colour, and better and less blurring of type.

Chic to Go

In fact, he hopes that such a good quality environment will repatriate advertisers of high fashion and perfume that have been advertising in Chic . Launched by The Gazette in 1995 specifically to entice such advertisers who weren't interested in the then-current newspaper colour photo quality, Chic was originally successful and eventually became a national magazine with distribution through other Southam papers. However, Chic has struggled in the past year and ceases publication with the end of 1999.

"It was interesting and profitable, but the magazine industry in Canada is tough - more so now with increased competition from the U.S. - and it's not the direction in which we should be going," Goldbloom says. (Trends, a Gazette -produced magazines closer to the local retail trade will continue, however.)

With the new presses, The Gazette advertisers will have broader options in terms of creativity. "No more double eyes on photos," he promises. "And it will be easier to use reverse type."

Market Diversity

Changes in The Gazette have to entice more than Montreal's mother-tongue English readers, too.

"Whereas the daily at one time had a largely captive audience, the reality today is that our traditional constituency is now highly bilingual - especially the young people - so they can exercise choice," Goldbloom says. "Plus, it used to be that allophones were sure to come to The Gazette . ( The Gazette 's research department is concentrating this year on Quebec's allophones to learn more about their needs and how they relate to the paper).

"Now, since Bill 101, there's a whole generation that have passed through the French school system. So we're aware that we're in competition for the bilingual and trilingual allophone, francophone and anglophone.

"That's why, first and foremost, we must be sure that we're the newspaper covering Montreal in English rather than exclusively the paper of the English community.'

It's also why The Gazette 's Web site has a direct link to the French-language news from Canadian Press.

"English is still our core readership, but it's important to change as the city changes," he says.

As the only English daily, The Gazette also has the challenge of appealing to all readers. While at one time The Gazette may have been perceived as slightly upscale, with income disparities between the English and French having disappeared, the paper cannot be targeted. So the young bilingual male reader of sports may read The Gazette sports but may also read the Journal de Montréal sports; the woman executive may read the political news in The Gazette, or in La Presse or Le Devoir .

"We have the challenge to reach all the different constituencies with one paper," says Goldbloom. "If we can do it well, it's a great opportunity. I believe that we can be something to everyone."

That 'everyone' includes the difficult-to-reach 18-34 age group, of prime importance to advertisers, but enticed by the increased number of specialty television channels and the Internet at their disposal.

"You have to be careful about going down the path that assumes young people aren't interested in the same things as older people are," Goldbloom says. "It's true that many aren't readers when they leave home and get out on their own. But once they settle down with a home and family, they usually return."

They must be treated with respect and intelligence, he says but, at the same time, some changes have to be made in newspapers to be relevant to the generation that is growing up with the Internet.

Adapting to the Internet

"The headlines in their morning papers no longer shock people as in the past, because people are now getting headlines instantaneously as events occur, through the Internet or on TV or radio. So we're less focused now on the hard news. We're more into explaining why an event happens, in what context, the result of it having occurred, and commentary. The young people on the Internet still want to know the 'why's.

"We also have to spend more time to see how the paper can use the Internet more effectively. With all the different Web sites, etc., people have to have help. With the advent of TV, people predicted the demise of newspapers. Instead, newspapers became a means of helping people to use TV. TV books, like our TV Times , are an important source of readership for television. Can we provide that type of guidance and information for the Internet? We already have a writer (Andy Riga) focused on helping understand how to use the Internet. I think we have a good opportunity if we can expand on that."

While an Internet Times isn't under consideration for the near future, ("I don't know if that's the way to go," says Goldbloom), the newspaper has been slowly increasing references to the Internet through various means. A sports writer has guided readers on the best sports sites, for example. And the paper is putting Web site references for further information at the bottom of articles, or specific information directly on The Gazette 's own Web site.

"Rather than fighting the Internet, we're trying to work with it, to the advantage of our paper and our readers," says Goldbloom.

Trying to find the best way to work with the Internet also extends to The Gazette's classified section. Although the newspaper itself has a strong classified section, it's not the case with The Gazette 's Internet classified. Goldbloom says it's another area where he, Gazette management and Southam are considering the direction to go. Both The Gazette and Southam are going to be investing significantly in the Internet and the services it can provide, he says.

"We've been reluctant until now, trying to see if our Internet business is real." But in determining the direction in which to proceed, Goldbloom isn't interested in giving a free listing on the web to newspaper classified advertisers

"Giving things away and then attributing revenue to it is not the way to operate. We're generating growing revenues from our Web site, but it's still not what it costs to produce them. The challenge for us and all newspapers is how to make it an effective business. We can't spend the next 10 years giving information away. We have to figure out how to make an effective business out of it. This is a learning process. But it's a priority over the next year or so and we will be investing heavily. The quality of what we're putting on the Internet will improve significantly."

Keeping Involved

Goldbloom sees The Gazette as the place to go to learn more about Montreal, the city is which he has grown and immersed himself in its activities. He keeps involved, despite his long hours with the paper, playing hockey (in a league of executives in the 35-plus age group in Westmount), skiing from a country house in the Eastern Townships, and attending the theatre, not only local productions but those in Stratford and in New York. And he spends a lot of time reading.

He also tries to stay involved with the editorial issues of the paper and its approach - "the fun part of the job," he says - and attends the daily editorial board meetings as often as he can, as well as the late afternoon meetings regarding the next day's paper and front page features. He also attends a daily morning operations meeting where discussions focus on any problems encountered regarding the creating, printing and delivery of the paper. He enjoys the meetings.

"I like to think that one of my strengths is that I listen well and have respect for the people I work with," he says. "I like to feel that I can help members of the management team work to their full potential and with a common purpose. And I think I'm a pretty good judge of character."

His ability as a leader of a communications team may well soon reach beyond The Gazette itself. He'd like the daily to take the lead among all the English-language media in Montreal to work together and explain the reality and attractiveness of their market to advertisers and agency media planners and buyers in Toronto and elsewhere who look only to the French media when diffusing their messages in Quebec.

While the individual media make their own efforts, nothing in that regard has been done seriously as a group for several years.

"We need to do it, and to provide leadership by The Gazette . We have to get together and talk about this. We have a positive story to tell regarding the affluence of the changing market. Getting together with CFCF-12, Global, the radio stations and other English media is on my list of things to do, hopefully in the year 2000."

The boomers in Quebec have done well and have the highest income, he says. They should be interesting to advertisers here. And their reading habits shouldn't be misjudged.

"The nice thing is that once people have the habit for reading papers, they keep it for life," he says. "The boomers are unlikely to kick the habit, even if they are getting into the Internet. The newspaper is splitable, browsable, portable and the cheapest form of entertainment. They may only want to spend five minutes with the headlines, but as their leisure time increases, they can spend an hour and a half."

Spreading its Message

The Gazette is doing its own advertising to reach both readers and advertisers. Current campaigns include "The English language. Daily.", a resurrected series of "As Montreal as a two-cheeked kiss" (and other "As Montreal as..." variations) and an oversized billboard, "Think big", on behalf of the classified section.

As well, the paper has a morning radio commercial that highlights The Gazette 's main stories of the day, positioned adjacent to the morning radio news. Once the editorial decision is made at 5 p.m., a script is written and Listen! Audio records it and sends it to the stations for morning broadcast. (It has a bank of generic commercials for days without a hot news story.) The paper's main advertising is handled by Listen! Audio which handles creative itself or subcontracts - for example, a writer in Calgary developed 'The English Language. Daily.' Media is handled by Media Experts.

National Post Impact

The Gazette lost some talented journalists and a major designer to the National Post when it was launched a year ago. Nevertheless, Goldbloom says that the new national paper injected excitement into the newspaper business in Canada. It helped bring in new jobs, causing papers like The Gazette to add a new generation of journalists to replace those lost.

"It also pushed all papers to improve the quality of the graphics and look at redesign. And it brought a certain quirkiness in its coverage, a willingness to have fun, so editors across the country are looking at having more fun and being a little less staid while still keeping their quality."

It has also had some impact on circulation which, like other papers across North America, has seen a gradual decline over 20 years.

"We're feeling some impact in terms of single copy sales," admits Goldbloom. "The reality is that the National Post is selling 25,000 to 30,000 copies in Montreal every day and some of those are at the newsstand. Somebody who ordinarily buys The Gazette five days a week may see something on the cover of the National Post and pick it up instead, and only buys The Gazette four days a week. So there's a little market share loss."

There has been little significant impact on advertising. The concern was for the luxury item advertisers, but The Gazette is still getting about the same amount as it had and Goldbloom looks to the new presses to increase these. He also hopes that the better reproduction offered may interest more food advertisers to use the paper, as well as some of the big discount retailers that are currently missing.

Editorially, there are several improvements that Goldbloom would like to make, as well.

"I want The Gazette to be the place to go to learn the most about Montreal, " he says. "So we need to do better than anyone else in covering the full diversity of the city. It's a question of attitude, of making sure that we see our readers as diverse and becoming more so, and of our doing it better. We have the opportunity because of our roots, our perspective and our competitors.

"We're also looking at ways to enhance our world coverage. There are Montrealers looking to the wider world, and if we go about it in the right way, there's an opportunity here to capture their interest."

The Future

But the immediate challenge is the new presses and all that goes with them. Beyond that, he says, he plans to be with The Gazette "as long as I'm enjoying it. I'm not a person who has ever planned much. I've taken opportunities as they came along. At the moment, it's a great and interesting challenge to get the presses up and running, and then I'll assess as it goes along.

"It's a unique privilege to be the publisher in one's home town, and at such a critical time, so it's gratifying to see the paper progress and to a part of the city that I care a lot about."

Are politics in his future, given his earlier stint with Alliance Quebec, his family background (his father Victor, currently Commissioner of Official Languages, has long been involved in politics), and his interests?

"I've considered it and have been approached at times, but I've never been in the position where I wanted to do it. There's an advantage of growing up in a political family. You see so much and up close. With that and the Alliance, I've a high regard for public office and those in it. I also have no illusions about it. It's a hard life. You must have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish.

"I think it's better to do it at the end of one's career when you have the experience and independence. I'd never say that I wouldn't do it, but it's not on the short term horizon."

Goldbloom may well go into politics. On the other hand, one gets the feeling that he'd be happy to sit down with a pen in one hand and an ice cream (his admitted weakness) in the other, and play the role of editor or journalist.

His immediate goal, however, is to get the new presses running successfully. That, he says, would be something by which, as publisher, he'd like to make his mark.