Canada’s largest newspaper chain, Postmedia Network, is cutting 90 staff and merging newsrooms to cope with declining revenue and heavy indebtedness.
In Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa – cities where Postmedia owns two daily papers – formerly rival editorial staff will work together under one editor, reports the Globe & Mail.
Last April, after Postmedia acquired the Calgary Sun, Edmonton Sun and Ottawa Sun from Quebecor, its executives promised that the titles would remain competitors with the Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal and Ottawa Citizen.
The partial U-turn in consolidating the newsrooms, announced on Tuesday, follows last week’s news of poor financial results with dramatic declines in advertising revenue.
In an interview with the Globe & Mail, Postmedia’s president and chief executive, Paul Godfrey, said: “I wanted to make sure that both newspapers [in each of the four cities] would continue, and I think we have found the formula which, at least at this point in time, can mean the continuation of those publications.”
This process of cutbacks and editorial mergers is very similar to newspaper changes in the United States and Britain.
Source: Globe & Mail
