Diane Francis joins team bidding for CanWest papers

Business journalist and media executive Diane Francis has joined a consortium interested in bidding for three CanWest LP newspapers. Francis is editor at large at the National Post, one of the 11 papers CanWest has put up for sale. She would become vice-chair of the management committee if the consortium succeeds in its bid to buy the Post, the Ottawa Citizen and Montreal's The Gazette. The consortium is led by former senator Jerry Grafstein, a Liberal, former Global TV executive Raymond Heard and Montreal editor Beryl Wajsman.