Nealenews

| 77 Comments

Nealenews has functioned as a more than a source of news fodder for the blogosphere and talk radio hosts across the country. In my estimation, Brian Neale's aggregator has been the single most important Canadian influence in pushing blog-driven stories into the mainstream media. He was the first to place blog posts on his site beside items in the Toronto Star, CTV, and elsewhere - driving stories (like Captain's Quarter's publication of the Jean Brault testimony and the income trust story) onto the nightly national news.

Today is the last posting for Nealenews. After spending five hours a day, seven days a week for the past four years updating this site, I have reached the point where I no longer have the energy or desire to continue.

In an attempt to prolong the inevitable, I recently decided to cut back on the postings, including weekends, but news operates on a 24-hour cycle and rather than become irrelevant through neglect, I've decided to pull the plug.

I would like to thank all of you for supporting this site so enthusiastically and for the many emails you have sent encouraging me along the way.


Thankyou, Brian. Something tells me you have no idea how much you'll be missed,


77 Comments

Thanks for all your work Brian!


Damn. By doing what he did, Brian brought so much credibility to the blogosphere. He was one of my favourite stops first thing in the morning and directed me to many great sites. Damn.

And thank you Kate. You are helping to make your country better. What you are doing is priceless!

He has been of great service to all of us. First url every morning and I will miss him. very sad.

"Finally, for those of you looking for a good Canadian news source similar to Nealenews, check out Jack's Newswatch. And, if you want conservative opinions served up without apology, head over to Small Dead Animals, Relapsed Catholic, and The Shotgun. In my judgment, these are the three best blogs in the country."

Brian Neale ...-
H/T Nealenews.com

Damn it all Brian, I'm another one who will miss you. You were the first site in my morning ritual, even before SDA. Frankly I don't know how you managed to do the job you did for so long without burning out (or hiring staff).

Good luck in the future and thanks.

Thanks Brian, yours was the first site I visited every morning and whenever I fired up a computer. Thanks for all the hard work, I will miss you.

I have made known to Brian my thoughts via email.
Geez Kate, don't you start wavering!

What a DRAG. I've been living in France, so Nealnews has been pretty well my sole daily source of news from back home. I visit deadanimals daily as well, but Nealnews was where I got my headlines and newsitems.

He will be very much missed. Thanks for a great site and all your tireless efforts!

He will be missed. I check out Neale news several times a day. Thanks for all your good work, Mr. Neale.

I went there first and thanked via email. He will be missed. Thanks Brian.. and as always thanks Kate.

Not wavering - but do keep that burnout factor in mind when I'm away for the weekend, or busy with work and things get slow. (Or away for three weeks, which is coming up in September/October.)

And when I bring in guest bloggers, be astute enough to support and thank them!



Damn! My first link of the day is gone. I only discovered nealenews late last year but it quickly became my favorite news site. You sir will be sorrily missed. Thanks for the service and good luck in the future.

I have also sent a message of thanks to Brian. Looks like I'll be needing a new homepage.....


It was my first stop for news eac morning

It was my first stop & home page as well, I think I singlehandedly had enough hits to make a difference in Brian's advertising revenue.

Sorry to see the end of an era, the media landscape in Canada is a bit uglier this morning...at least he stuck around long enough to help the Libs get the boot.

Brian,

I have had you as my homepage since day one, and will miss this page greatly . I will check out the pages you have suggested, nevertheless I hope that enough mail will come in to persuade you to soldier on.

In any case i understand what demands an expanding business can place on one's life, as I have made several attempts to blog which have come to nought when pitted against the neccessity of getting the bills paid, and the kids fed.

You have done a superlative job over the years, and have my heartfelt thanks for the sacrifices you have made to make your site the quality institution it has become. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors, and still hold out the hope that you may decide to continue as you did the last time you decided to pull the plug.

Please keep me posted should you ever decide to return.

Smok.

Yes, I sent a personal email to Neale.

But - don't waver, Kate, we need your blog. I think it's important to get breaks and guest blogs. The internet information system operates in a completely different manner than the MSM, and that's its strength. But it's a tremendous workload for the individual.

The internet is the domain of the individual. The MSM rejects the individual and operates as a 'solid structure'. This means that the internet, operated by individuals, gathers, moves, reacts to information rapidly, with flexibility. The internet can explore, question, analyze and debate things, can adapt to new information, change its conclusions based on that information. The internet is the modern 'know-all, see-all' God.

The MSM can't do any of that; it is a structure; it evolves into a fixed and predictable 'point of view'. It may permit a few 'deviants' but it maintains a common, unchanging perspective. It can't adapt, change, and its questions are only rhetorical. It provides stability for a society, it constrains individuals who are prone to move out of the collective.

But the focus on the individual in the internet means that individuals are both extremely important and, strangely, disposable. It's the individuals who make up the internet; without them, the internet simply doesn't exist. That puts an enormous workload on individuals. BUT, it also means that if an individual drops out of the internet, another individual rapidly moves in. There's no 'vacuum' in the internet, while there is, in the MSM.

I will greatly miss Nealenews

I will greatly miss Nealenews

Sorry to see him go. I always went to Neale News first ting in the morning for my news fix.

With Brian Neale doing all the heavy lifting himself I suppose it was only a matter of time until burnout set in.

Perhaps some of us could set up a site similar to Neale News. With many contributors and less time spent individually on the project burnout shouldn't be a factor.

I think Largs is onto something.... I'll give you one (really bad) example of such a case.... the disgusting pusilannimous Huffington Post... many contributors. The High Priestess (temple prostitute) of Liberalism just foots the bills and lends her name to it.

Many of us who also have time constraints but much to say might want to sign on as occasional contributors, however, and editor would be needed for the purpose of keeping headlines and other time-sensitive material current.

Smok.

It was the first site I visited in the morning for a look at the world,you'll be missed...
Paul

I'm really sorry to hear this news. I figured something was up when neale news decided not to post on weekends. 'Totally understand the sacrifice of time to put out such a great site, though, day in day out all year. "Love your neighbour AS yourself," goes the saying; if you're neglecting your personal life, then it's time to move on. Others can--and should!--fill the vacuum.

In addition to maz2's suggestions of Jack's Newswatch, SDA, the Shotgun, and Lapsed Catholic (great choices), I'd like to mention the Blogging Tories, which is a compendium of comments from various sites; not quite the same as neale news headlines and links to the MSM, but good commentary...

Thanks for all of your work, Brian, and every good wish for your next project, whatever it might be. Enjoy your "free" time! 'Sounds like you deserve to put your feet up, have a few beers, or hit the road for an extended holiday.

Vaya con Dios!

You'll be missed Brian. I'll herald the day you come out of retirement. :-)

I agree with everyone, very sad.

Can certainly understand his reasons, but man his site will be missed.

He kicked Martin's butt. He helped Harper.

His site was iconic.

Big hole in the Canadian blogsphere today...

Good luck to Brian. He deserves our thanks a million times over.

Hey Kate,

Will you be able to invite Brian as a guest blogger sometims ??

Very sad to learn that Brian is pulling the plug.
Nealenews was my first stop in morning and the SDA. Both with my morning coffee.
We used to subscribe to Newspapers to mull the events of the day over our coffee.
I wonder if Brian, Kate and others began a subscription service if it would be more worth their while and help with what must be an enormous task, though heartfelt driven, it takes a lot of time to do what they do.
Of course, Kate's site is absolutely the best out there bar none and Nealenews right behind her.
I know I would gladly pay both of them.
Not for a long time have I paid for a newspaper but I would gladly buy a subscription to both SDA and Nealenews. They are THAT good. Absolutely superb.
I have written Brian with my thanks and I post mine to Kate here.
And make the suggestion.
There are not too many places on the Internet that deserve a subscription ( Like the NYT and others) but SDA is outstanding for what Kate does with it and Nealenews for the same reason.

What about it, Brian and Kate?
Bringing in guest bloggers has been an absolute treat when Kate is away and perhaps Brian could , if he did decide to stay on and offer subscriptions, might have those who would offer backup.
This IS the new direction of news and blogs and news aggregators offer a valuable service and when done as well as Kate and Brian do it, deserve very much to be paid to do so.
What say you all?

Another very sad Canadian today - I too checked nealenews first thing every day and several times a day.

To say that he will be missed is an understatement. I understand the workload but regret the passing of this touchstone. I always read many many news sites but relied on Brian's site for my 'real'news.

O. Corey


Good.

His website sucked and his extreme biases made the CBC seem like a paragon of objectivity, by comparison. Which is saying alot.

Canada is a better country today than it was yesterday.

Buh-bye!

a sad day indeed for the blogoshere. thanx for all of your efforts of the past brian. you will be missed. hope things will allow you to contribute from time to time.

Like others on this site I turned to SDA and Nealenews each morning. It will be sad for the blogosphere losing someone of Brian's calibre. Hopefully he will reconsider once he has had a rest from the daily grind for awhile. Good luck Brian.

Thanks Brian , I quit the corrupted MSM because of your site.

KATE,
perhaps someone, somewhere would combine the loss of Neale News and the post 'seeing through the NYT'. A new site where the MSM " stories" are then re-written without the SPIN. I have been trying to do this, as I read, for decades now !! It would be so easy as the MSM spin machine is so vulnerable today. IT IS PATHETIC. When the CBC's own Ombudsman takes Chistina Lawand to task and forces an opology on The National, ... well, the time is here.

Hm... Sounds like an opportunity for Small Dead News to me.

A real loss! Neale has provided a seminal antidote to the MSM monopoly mentality. For example, would many people have envisioned five years ago that one blogger's efforts could lead to the recent CBC apology?

I need my nealenews, say it ain't so.

Hey, Snowbunnie, great idea. Except for the Western Standard, my husband and I have no other subscriptions, whereas we used to have three or four.

I'd gladly subscribe to SDA and neale news, though I realize a "paying readership" is a completely different ball game for them. I don't know how much more work it would be...

But, I'm game. Bring on the subscriptions!

Ah, yes, his contribution to journalism was legendary.

Like remember that time 100,000-plus anti-war protesters converged on Washington, and he pretended it never happened, and instead ran a banner story about some lame-ass counter-protest that drew a few hundred people?

The reality is his site sucked the big one, it (amazingly) made the CBC and Torstar look objective by comparison, and will be missed by no-one except the few people who see the news as a sport: one point for us, one point for them, one point for us...

The rest of us will, figuratively speaking, be pissing on its grave and celebrating a country that is better off today than it was yesterday.

Frank...

We get it... you didn't like the site...

Thanks for the input.


A very big hole to fill.

(ignore the trolls)

(ignore the trolls)

Sage advice, especially those who celebrate the loss of a source of information not run through the CBC-mindset filters.

The rest of us will, figuratively speaking, be pissing on its grave and celebrating a country that is better off today than it was yesterday.

ha ha! You can't make stupid stuff like this up. Every time I think a lefty can't make him or herself look dumber, they go ahead and prove me wrong.

Ha ha!

Many thanks, Brian, for a job extremely well-done!

And thanks for all the material I used for blogging.

Will always remember the time you linkied to Captain's Quarters on the banned ADSCAM testimony.

All the best for the future!

Oh, and thanks also for linking to my blog via your blogs list. I was pleasantly surprised to have found my blog there, even though I hadn't even asked... that was cool!

You never know what will happen when such a service is closed down. It was a great site, & perhaps will be again. he broke the ground now other will plow the field.

I choose to believe something as good or even better may show up.

I remember how devestated I was when the Alberta Report went away. Than we got the Western. Who knows what will replace this news outlet, but seeing how the Web works it will not be long before this nich is abley filled.

Thank you to Neale News for his hard work for this Nation. A real "Public" servant. Take a rest buddy than come back. Best wishes.

Nealenews is always the first site I go to in the morning. Thanks for your work, Brian, and good luck in the future.

With regards to Frank's message. The main difference between the CBC and Nealenews is that CBC's biases are all paid by Joe Taxpayer, you and me (well, if you pay taxes).

thank you for the great service and good luck

Thanks everybody for your wonderful comments(with the exception of Frank, the troll guy). I have mixed emotions about today, on one hand I'm glad to get my life back, on the other sad that something I pored everything into had to come to an end. I can't yet bring myself to read the mountains of emails that have been piling up all morning. Maybe in a day or so.

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