They can turn out the lights at the Sun chain...

...the last world class writer has left the building.

UPDATED BELOW

Veteran Sun op-ed columnist Eric Margolis is another casualty of Sun Media's shift to the far right, with little regard for longevity or popularity.

"I wrote for the Sun chain for 27 years because it allowed me total freedom of expression even when the editors disagreed with my opinions - something very rare in the media," Margolis told Toronto Sun Family in an e-mail today.

"This policy has changed. My views are displeasing to Ottawa," he says. "Accordingly, the Sun and I are parting company."

Eric Margolis was, for many years, the only reason to read Sun chain international coverage. Experienced, knowledgeable with a unique perspective that allows him to cut through a lot of the blather and propaganda other journalists treat like hard news. I will continue to follow him at his site or at Huffington Post, I encourage you to check him out if you haven't before.

Here in Calgary there had been a very noticeable shift to the center at the local Sun in recent years, editorials condemning the death penalty, much more rational columnists among a dwindling pack of reactionary haters, even a few dramatic evictions of far right writers engaging in unethical manipulation or race baiting.

I haven't looked at the Calgary Sun in a while, but I suspect the glasnost spring is probably joining the rest of the chain back in a long cold reactionary winter.

Hat tip to BigCityLib

UPDATE: The exit interview (audio), plus here's more on the recently exposed Netanyahu remarks about how easy the US is to push around the antiwar radio show concentrates the first half of the program on.