FORMER SENATOR JERRY Grafstein, a long-time Forest Hill resident, is filing a bid, along with two long-time media professionals, to buy three of Canwest’s daily newspapers.

“There is an urban legend that the future of newspapers is dim. I don’t believe that. That is a view that the glass is half empty. I don’t believe that. I think the glass is half full,” Grafstein said.
 

He is one of the founders of Citytv, and has had a lengthy career in public affairs and law. Grafstein said he will be filing a bid to purchase the Montreal Gazette, the Ottawa Citizen and the National Post with a consortium of colleagues.

Raymond Heard (a media consultant with major corporate clients, a former White House correspondent and managing editor of the Montreal Star and head of Global News) and Beryl Wajsman (editor of Quebec’s largest English language weekly and producer and host of a Montreal radio news magazine program) will be bidding with Grafstein.
 

The vitality of the ownership is based on local direction, Grafstein said.
“You should know the communities you serve,” he said, “as opposed to having distant corporate ownership.”
“We intend to dig deeper roots into each of the communities,” he said.