http://www.theglobeandmail.com/…/postmedia…/article23895298/
With fond memories of Doug, Peter, Don and others in the 62 or so Day
Oners Club, we say farewell to one of North America's print media
success stories gone awry thanks to corporate power plays, greed and
mismanagement by new owners.
As others have said, those who were
around to share in the glory years have memories - and stories - to
last a lifetime. In my book, the Toronto Sun was an Ali, a Gretzky, a
Pele, a Woods. Shooting stars to be remembered as one-of-a-kind experiences.
To know what the working environment on all six floors of 333 was
pre-Quebecor is to know how much our shooting star has dimmed. In the
end, we will always have SkyDome circa 1991 and warm memories of
Christmas bonuses, profit sharing, stock options, sabbaticals, Blah
days, anniversary parties etc.
To the survivors of the PM purchase, we wish you well. TSF will be here to relay new ownership moves. We can only hope PM will be gentle.
To the survivors of the PM purchase, we wish you well. TSF will be here to relay new ownership moves. We can only hope PM will be gentle.
New bylines for everyone already - 'Postmedia Network' as opposed to 'Sun Media' Should make this summer's bloodletting go that much more smoothly.
ReplyDeleteWord also comes that TO Sun is out of 333 by end of 2015. Relocated to the Post building. Of course, there will be room because there will be so many fewer TO Sun staffers by then.
ReplyDeleteI remember serious rumblings 2-3 years ago that PM management wanted to turn the Post into a tabloid. One of the hurdles, of course, would have been that Canada already has a chain of urban tabs....
ReplyDeleteBut what if you made the Post a tab and used whoever is left from the Suns in each market (a skeleton crew of a couple editors and maybe half a dozen writers) to fill the local news and sports pages within the Post?
With the TO Sun staff being moved into a broom closet at the Post building by the end of the year, that would make a lot of sense.
Presumably the same move is in store for Sun staffers in Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa, who will be shuffled into the basements of the Herald, Journal and Citizen respectively.
What will happen with the local community papers? Locally we are holding our breath wondering how can this work? More local coverage...delivered to who? Last I heard circulation numbers are plummeting.
ReplyDeleteLetter from Lou Clancey about more, in-depth local coverage...how?
ReplyDeleteAll of this is just talk. Godfrey says the newsrooms won't be merged one minute, then the next he talks about how copy is going to be "shared." Clancy's letter makes it clear PM writers will be appearing in Sun Media papers.
ReplyDeleteSure, we will move you into the Post building, but you will all keep your jobs. Yes, we want more local coverage, but we aren't committing to restaffing things to pre-Quebecor levels. This is all PR.
They will do these rounds and wait a few months. Then when the cuts really come, nobody will care anymore. It goes from a headline at the top of the news to a business brief. Just watch....
I feel like we've heard these tall tales before. We went from Thomson, to Holliger, to Osprey and then finally to Sun Media. We all remember the Sun folks strolling in and telling us how good this will be...then the chopping started, presses closed, mail rooms moved, editors consolidated, circ staff reduced, delivery outsourced accounting functions moved MANY times, ads being done in India, circulation call centre moved to the Caribbean. Honestly what is left to move?
ReplyDeleteEditorial and circulation meetings so far. Anyone heard what is happening?
ReplyDeletewhy dont you ask them
ReplyDeleteno one is talking ...so far. We have always had more interaction through this forum than from our own company or co-workers, that's why.
Deletelots of tongue wagging, nothing of substance. We've heard this game plan before. Guess that's why no one is talking about it.
ReplyDeleteSo Sun Media's corporate editorial executioner-in-chief is gone as of today. Who's next?
ReplyDeleteWho was that? Glenn Garnett?
DeleteThere will be a few more very soon.
ReplyDeleteApparently advertisers have caught on to our paid circulation, or lack of. Asked if our paid circulation numbers are down by 10-15% why has the rate of an ad not gone down as well?
ReplyDeleteEver tried to call your newspaper? Good luck if you miss your paper or need to speak with someone about a story. There are so few people left that nobody answers the phone anymore...isn't voicemail great for business?
usually this blog is all doom and gloom. I look to the new company as a breath of fresh air. As we haven't heard too much as yet, I take that, personally as a good thing. We all know how screwed up our workplaces are, maybe if we look forward with some optimism it can maybe get better.
ReplyDeleteDepends where you work, what you do. The breath of fresh air will be a swift boot out the door for many. Post Media's track record, which often mirrored Quebecor's management moves, should not make anyone feel optimistic. As for doom and gloom, you must be referring to their last quarterly report.
ReplyDeleteI was part of a take-over once (different chain). We were the 'buying' company, which we took as good news. Didn't take long to see that the only advantage was making money. If you're toiling at a money-loser, you're toast. If you're at a money-maker, you might survive. Release the hounds.
ReplyDeleteThe fact they have already announced the Toronto Sun is moving into the Post building, and a corporate VP is toast (with more to follow) shows you what is happening. Sun Media is being absorbed, plain and simple.
ReplyDeleteFor the community papers that were never Sun papers per se, that might be good news. But for the urban tabs....Has someone already written the headline, Sun Goes Down.
And then it got so quiet. Not hearing anything as yet in our little piece of the empire. They must really be thinking through any changes...what a change that will be for all of us.
ReplyDeleteBetter move a little faster..the bottom is getting closer. Ad rev down, circulation plummeting. Come on people saves us from our past sorrows.
ReplyDeletePM on tour, what will happen next?
ReplyDeleteProbably like the Stun Media tour, all smiles then send someone back with an axe.
ReplyDeleteSpoke to several people in our office, which sadly is almost all of them...seems they are not ready for the fight anymore, hope they bring retirement packages on the tour. This fighting everyday to survive another day in employment is getting a little long in the tooth.
ReplyDeleteAll is quiet, maybe that is a good thing?
ReplyDeleteFor sure, nothing is going to change, PM bought a perfectly run and hugely profitable operation. I think Supertramp wrote a song about people like you.
ReplyDeletePostmedia took away the titles of its publishers in Niagara, but the four amigos had a plan - the one in Niagara Falls and the one in Welland demoted their ad directors and took their titles. The top amigo in St. Catharines couldn't do the same, since the fourth amigo is ad director there, so the top amigo became regional ad director.
ReplyDeleteOh great, regional direction works so well. The slide continues.
DeleteManagers always do OK. We've laid off a third of our newsroom, but we need an editor, a city editor, a photo editor, a features ed, a sports ed, a night news editor, and a couple of others even when there's one reporter working that day.
DeleteJust wait for some of the consolidations that will ultimately take place. There have been times that a reporter is not even booked to work through the weekend. Good thing news doesn't happen on the weekend.
DeleteWe had a person (an advertiser) come into our office and ask to personally speak with the publisher, of course it's a regional publisher and not in the office this day. So this guy goes on to explain that he has called over 10 times, spoke to someone in the the call centre...oh and the best part of the story, he's a member of our chamber of commerce and NOT IMPRESSED how we say local news, local office and yet he called and spoke to the call centre in where ever it is. Might be a topic at the next Chamber meeting for sure.
Perfectly run? Did someone for the Tonight show write that joke? Last time someone could say that with a straight face was.... a long long time ago. Wonder if PM is at all shocked at what they bought? kinda like buying a house and realizing the foundation is cracked and leaking. Lots of time and energy went into making those cracks, hope they leave it as is. They could make it worse poking around trying to fix it.
ReplyDeletecosts money for local news local office, does he pay the bills, the guy who is not impressed, maybe if he advertised more there could be money for more local offices and staff, people can be unimpressed all they want,they have no clue what it costs to run a paper, in fact he is lucky there is even a paper, instead of complaining, and who cares if hes on the chamber of commerce, does the chamber do a ton of advertising, dont think so
ReplyDeleteThat's right, your failure is the customer's fault.
DeleteJust FYI, he does advertise, almost daily, when most have left us for of all things radio. He doesn't care what it costs to run an office, nor should he. He's very successful and frankly he echos the voice of the community and lucky there is even a paper? come on i work there, I'm glad there is one...with an attitude, might not be for much longer. Oh and you are correct the chamber does little advertising...it's members do a ton, well until the next meeting at least.
ReplyDeleteso they wont advertise because you cant afford to have everything local due to costs, well thats support for you from your local chamber,, rediculous
ReplyDeleteYou missed the point. He's upset that a business that has been in operation for over one hundred years, is now left to nothing but a shell of its former self. All he wanted to do was talk to someone, that is the point, there is no one to listen to him anymore. We stand there holding out our hand waiting for business, but when they need us to listen to them...we're no where to be found. We are arrogant enough to think they don't notice what we have become...newsflash they have and it is going to effect the business even further. We want to succeed, just can't with our hands tied behind our backs.
DeleteYes customer is wrong for wanting service, now that is ridiculous.
Deletewell why does he care then as long as hes getting his message out there, does it matter that some stuff is not done local, do you tell him how to run his business,
ReplyDeletedoes your customer get all of his stuff for his business locally i think not.. there is no customers fault, if they dont want to adveritse in a paper because some stuff is not local due to costs, well hes really got a problem , such is life that due to costs, things may have to be run differently, part of life and part of surviving as a business,
ReplyDeleteRun differently for sure. Run into the ground to do so absolutely. I agree with 17:05, customer seems to be the one that created this mess we are in, now that is ridiculous.
DeleteGuess the best part to crappy service is less customers to worry about disappointing. So shop local or in India or the Caribbean. Apparently someone at 333 still reads this blog...they defend their inept decisions to their last breath. Out of touch as always
DeleteSorry but i think you're wrong. If it was managed better it could have remained local.
ReplyDeleteSo I notice that in several weekly/community papers in Alberta the regional publishers now have new title of regional director of advertising? What's up with that? PM eliminating publishers now?
ReplyDeleteeliminated many publishers in Ontario long ago. made the position dual role.
DeleteI'm curious to know what a publisher does?
ReplyDeleteBack in the day they were the connection to head office. They set the direction of the local paper, based on what the different dept heads put together in their budgets. The publisher was the person that took it on the chin when H.O was upset. There was local accountability, local planning and for the most part local success. Now compare where we are today...see a difference? We all know that the folks in TO have all the answers, cause what's good for TO is good for the rest of Ontario.
ReplyDeleteNew managing editors appointed to Toronto Sun and Ottawa Sun.
ReplyDeleteThe T.O. Sun's new editor in chief has only had one journalism job. Goes to show, it's who you know ...
ReplyDeleteSurprised? Me not in the least, probably a couple more on the horizon.
ReplyDeleteSo nothing has changed we are all still left in the dark about future plans.
ReplyDeletethe silence is deafening. You can cut the nervousness with a knife lately. Guess we're bound by "no communication is bad communication."
ReplyDeleteVarious media has been reporting that Batra is the Sun's second female editor-in-chief and Metcalfe was the first. Wasn't Barbara Amiel editor-in-chief or was her title less exalted?
ReplyDeleteThe ax came down today in Toronto.
ReplyDeleteJohn Querques - VP Distribution Operations & Customer Service English Canada
Stacey Allen - Sales Director, Insert Distribution
Communication is far better than with Stun Media. Nothing of substance as yet, but at least they are trying. 1000% better than what we're used to.
ReplyDeleteSeveral layoffs in Toronto today - all the former QMI staff. CP will be back in Sun papers. Imagine Canoe staffers are on the block next. The integration ball is going to start rolling now.
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the QMI wire - I heard they had a deal with TransCon in the Maritimes to buy into the wire but PM didn't know about it until after they kicked Garnett out and killed the desk.
DeleteLots of changes in Niagara; can't confirm just what yet.
ReplyDeleteAny update on Niagara region?
DeleteI wonder if it's consolidation? Too many newspapers, declining circulation, not much revenue.
ReplyDeleteGlobe says more Postmedia cuts coming. And COO Wayne Parrish is quitting. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/more-job-cuts-could-be-coming-for-postmedia-network/article25066108/
ReplyDeleteHard to stomach some of the inevitable cuts, but without money there isn't a company...PERIOD
ReplyDeleteThat's what made Quebecor so loathsome. Billions of dollars and still ruthless, stupid cuts, carried out ineptly. The new company simply has no money, no steady revenue, no options and really no choice but to cull, cull, cull......
ReplyDeleteHey, in case you have't heard newspapers are dead. Ok so maybe not dead but with Sun Media it was a death of a thousand cuts, trying to kill it off faster...for some reason. Oh maybe they needed the money to get a hockey team in Quebec City?
ReplyDeleteWith PKP, it was all about ego...trying to surpass his father but falling short time and again.
ReplyDeleteHe loathed the Sun tabs (thought they were beneath him) but was happy to milk them for all they were worth to expand his "empire".... Videotron ... Canoe ... Sun News Network (which Harper's folks promised would make him the Rupert Murdoch of Canada if he funded it) and whatever else. A Quebecor executive told me as much once.
Now Paladeau's onto politics and a hockey team, whatever.
Postmedia has maybe 5 years left before it's a fire sale. Before that happens, the cuts should be fairly constant to rid itself of overpriced "legacy" employees/print dinosaurs. And to consolidate wherever possible.
re: "With PKP, it was all about ego"
ReplyDeleteAs the Toronto FYI paper was failing and losing a ton of money (although a Sun Media exec lied on a TV news report by stating, "We're making good coin!"), I spoke with another Sun Media exec as to why FYI was being kept alive, especially since TorStar killed off its "Today" paper.
The Sun exec said that the FYI paper was being kept alive for only one reason: to satisfy PKP's ego. He went on to say that he (and others) advised PKP that starting up FYI was a mistake but PKP was determined to launch something.
Thursday, Post Media financial results are public, lets see how that announcement goes before we all get too nervous.
ReplyDeletehope it's better than the last one (or few) how can a company continue to lose money and still be viable? Makes me a little nervous.
DeleteThey're going to save $50 million by 2017 with synergies ... Phew! I thought there would be layoffs...
DeleteMan oh man.... Third quarter was BRUTAL. Postmedia is losing money hand over fist. Even digital revenue - remember how the web was going to save everything - is down. Wonder how much longer they can go on until the real fire sale begins.
ReplyDeleteAs this story says, "The financial figures show how quickly the Postmedia papers are losing the foundation of their business."
http://www.thestar.com/business/2015/07/09/postmedia-losses-mount-as-revenue-declines-speed-up.html
But hey, there is cash to be squeezed from the Suns....
Looking it over, and if I'm reading their statement right, it seems PM wants to make another $50 million in cuts and cost savings through streamlining, etc. before September.
ReplyDeleteYou read it wrong. PM plans $50
Deletemillion in cuts between the fall of 2015 and the fall of 2017. But there will be another $5 million in cuts between now and end of September that are part of the $10 million in synergies that were announced at time of Sun Media takeover.
Ah! Thanks for the correction. Not that it provides any more comfort....
Deleteis synergy another word for layoffs or consolidation? One might think they are the same thing. Might be a bumpy summer.
DeleteStill...$25 million a year for two years is a lot of people or products when you are looking for cuts. Maybe they will find it with actual age retirements and not forced retirement that we are all so used to.
DeleteMore synergies than anticipated. To some that means more integration. Which in some terms might mean jobs moved to other papers.
ReplyDeleteNot a good outlook going forward. Only thing to cut is people. Consolidate printing, reduce some delivery expense, but people are the most expensive part of the whole equation. We might see more involuntary reductions to staff, and soon than later.
ReplyDeleteThe most expensive part of a newspaper is the printing and the distribution, about 70% at some places. Simple sample: http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/brainstuff/interesting-the-incredible-cost-of-printing-the-newspaper.htm
ReplyDeleteMid July and there needs to be some savings? Have to admit, this is yet another pins and needles summer for most of us. Some are all too willing to leave. We're about 50/50 in our office who would want to go, who would want to stay. Lots of speculation, hope it soon isn't reality.
ReplyDeleteNo news is GREAT NEWS...so far at least.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless keep your backup plan ready
DeleteMid August is when things will start to come to light, synergies...remember the word?
ReplyDeleteMid August........
DeleteOur thought at our paper is that the longer it goes, the worse it will be. One fell swoop...devastation.
DeleteGlad I don't have a loan to pay in American money.
ReplyDeleteC$ vs US$ is becoming quite a gap. Whatever profit we thought we had with the Sun papers is being eaten up very quickly. I don't think $5m in savings in even close to enough. I'm not an economist, but a homeowner paying a mortgage and think that if I added 10-15% in monetary loss to a debit it would be impossible to make those payment for interest alone. Glad I don't have to write the cheque in American dollars.
DeleteHow long before the Edmonton Journal and the Edmonton Sun are merged? http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/djclimenhaga/2015/08/code-crossover-how-long-edmonton-journal-and-edmonton-sun-are-me
ReplyDeleteMerger will be the theme of the next 3 years.
DeleteWhen I first heard of a possible PM takeover of the Suns in 2013, it was also clearly said that the end result would be vanishing Suns.
Makes no sense to keep two separately-staffed competing papers in each market, especially when so much of the content is basically the same and centralized (i.e.: movie, TV reviews and canned celeb features, sports who-won gamers and CP news of the day briefs). Never mind duplicate news rims, scores of middle managers, etc. You don't need a business degree to know the situation screams to be streamlined.
PM won't want to do anything drastic right away - their public line is the newsrooms and content will remain separate. But we all know those public lines only last for so long until the inevitable "we need to make unfortunate changes in a demanding industry, etc..." press release.
Given the PM broadsheets are so much more robust in local, unique content, you have to think the Suns are where the axes will fall...especially if you consider Sun newsrooms are already being relocated into PM broom closets across Canada. That's the clearest indication of who is going to end up absorbed/erased when the dust settles.
Do or die moment for Post Media coming soon....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/postmedia-faces-pivotal-moment/article26056170/
Plenty more cuts look inevitable, along with unloading assets like the Calgary Sun building.
I think all they have left are Sun buildings. the rest of us are in rented office space.
DeleteThere were "synergies" happening in Alberta, odd it didn't make the news.
ReplyDeleteWhere in Alberta? Any info you can share?
DeleteFrankly, I think a chain-wide streamlining/restructuring/merger announcement is overdue.
Is PM trying to keep everything quiet?
Remember when it was said to be nice to the competitor in your market? Well easier said than done, tread lightly my friends, some are NOT eager to accept the castoffs from PM. A co-worker, trying to lay some ground work was not even asked for an interview. When asked why..."you bad mouthed us for all this time and now you're looking for a job?" So better plan for a better plan "B" those that have left before us, are not going to be so excited to see you as you might hope.
ReplyDeleteWhen warranted, fair enough, but I hope people in positions of power don't hold it unfairly against the younger talent that is just trying to find employment in their chosen field. Speaking as a Sunmedia (now Postmedia) small-market competitor, some of the young journalists that have been through the Sunmedia shredder here are/were talented and ethical individuals who deserve a chance. Some haven't been, but they've been the exception, not the rule.
DeleteLooks like we won't have much to worry about, many of the changes look to be happening out west and with the Sun papers. The communities have so little to give up, we barely keep our heads above water as is, what more can anyone ask of us? I heard Post Media told folks at the TO Sun that fun was going to come back to the workplace...ok when is that starting?
DeleteHahahaha. Ha. Fun. Sure. Does moving into some premium closet space at the National Post count as fun?
ReplyDeleteWith all this talk of a plan B for layoffs I thought I might throw this out in the forum and see where it goes.
ReplyDeleteI used to edit two regional weekly papers for Sun Media. About a year ago I left and started up my own with my wife. Print and distribution did not work cost wise except to establish the brand but three months ago we took it digital. Now we have a well established publication distributed every two weeks to a growing email list, which we encourage people to share.
Bottom line now though is that we have to return to the UK for family reasons. We could run it remotely from anywhere but we will also consider selling it. Its a work from home business, with practically zero cost with a growing advertising base covering four counties in West Central Alberta.
Anyone that's interested is welcome to email us at mcleodriverpost@gmail.com
Best regards.
Ian
So I'm looking at our showbiz pages here in Edmonton...and there is a rundown of films playing at TIFF...in Toronto. Huh? Mini-reviews of movies everyone should run out and see ... playing 2,000 km away at a sold-out festival? Turns out, same thing in Winnipeg. And all over the country.
ReplyDeleteHave the national showbiz 'editors and writers' become completely lazy and incompetent? Never used to be like this. Are they phoning it in because the end is coming? Where is the leadership and direction?
Are they out playing violins on the deck?
The national showbiz and other “centres of excellence” used to try to publish chain-wide stories in print and online with national appeal. It sounds like they’ve given up. Coming soon: Toronto concert reviews in your Edmonton Sun.
DeleteI’m on our Calgary Sun site and an interview written by the ent EDITOR says the movie screens tonight at Roy Thomson Hall and Thursday, Sept. 17, at the Elgin (VISA Screening Room). Is everyone in Toronto asleep at the switch?
ReplyDeletecome on people, everyone in Canada knows that Toronto is the centre of our world. Not sure how many are going to rush to sitting in traffic for 2 hours then pay for parking (if you can find it) then an enjoyable show, then sit for another 2 hours in traffic...oh wait everyone must be doing that? Our small community paper has lived with this crap for a few years, all it does is fill space (there are very few ads) no reader thought put into this at all. How would someone care if they live in Sudbury or Chatham what is happening in Toronto or Montreal. It's about local news in a small community, not just filling the pages with ink. PM seems to have fallen (quickly) into the ol Sun Media model, the reader will buy and read what we want them to, if they don't like it go elsewhere for your news. What a sad hole this has become, when all we want to do is good work.
ReplyDeleteI totally get why papers outside of Toronto dislike constant TIFF coverage in their pages. But it is a big deal in Toronto, which makes it surprising how weak the coverage has been this year compared to past years. Really run-of-the-mill stuff. No interesting features. No fresh ideas. No fun video or social media content. Other media outlets in Toronto are miles ahead. Sun sports, by contrast, really steps up to the plate when it's needed. Ditto news.
DeleteAnd speaking of other Toronto media, has anyone checked out the Star's Star Touch tablet app? Just fantastic. Really leaves the Sun and PM in the dust.
All of this can be traced back a decade to Quebecor.
ReplyDeleteYou now have a situation where the majority of star writers are in their 50s, 60s and 70s, coupled with online Canoe staff who have zero journalism experience and can barely stitch words together coherently.
In other words, unionized people way past their prime and people who should have learned their craft first in the minors. It's a disaster here at the Toronto Sun.
But hey, it's the flagship, right? And so goes the whole Sun chain.......
As a national online staffer (Canoe, if you will) I'd just like to reiterate that our staff contributes more than some can imagine. We write/edit/post/produce video for some 200 websites, including all of our urban dailies. We also act as a tech department for anyone with questions around the country. Furthermore, national online's sports department worked with the National Post during the Pan Am Games editing/posting/writing copy for that publication's website. A lot of what we write appears in print, too. We're usually happy to help however we can and take on new projects and work almost weekly.
ReplyDeleteRespectfully,
Kurt Larson
I have a question...How does a newspaper continue to operate without advertising? answer, it doesn't. I know why so many operations are sent offsite, we can't afford what we have now. We default to call centres and centres of excellence because there is so little money left at the end of the day. If our community didn't have all of the preprints in our market, I doubt we could sustain what few people we still do have. Sales people are saying the market is slow, but I see the local independent paper doing pretty well, and our local radio seems to be doing better than ever. So why are we so far behind? CONTENT, people don't want to read what is happening outside their town but we continue to give them what WE want them to read, not what they WANT to read. Just a thought as we seem to be all looking for plan "b" we should be worried about plan "a"
ReplyDeletePM will never replenish staffing levels. The purchase of Sun Media was only to corner the urban advertising markets. Content is just a talking point for press releases.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to glimpse the future, consider LaPresse, which will no longer be publishing weekdays. One paper a week on Saturdays - otherwise, it's all on their tablet app.
Expect similar things in PM along with the merging of various products. Several sections of the Post, for example, are now going to be running within copies of the Edmonton Journal and other PM broadsheets.
All in all, fewer and fewer jobs....
Look for more content, NOT local but more national. London, St. Catherines, can it be far in the future that the smaller communities are absorbed the same way, just a page or two wrapped inside one of the larger urban papers? Chatham, Sarnia, St. Thomas, Woodstock, all can be served by either Windsor Star or London Free Press, just roll in a couple of local pages when you have room. WOW we thought Stun Media didn't get it...guess we were just a little off on that account.
DeleteSurprised it's taken this long for them to do this. Other smaller papers can be either infused with the new content or further removed from the community they serve. This will be a make or break in some towns if they do it in the smaller communities.
DeleteComments on most articles have been killed at the Toronto Sun. Unfortunate, but good riddance. It was a cesspool of the lowest form of humanity, well, next to ISIS.
ReplyDeleteNot a surprise, since the non-Sun PM sites did this awhile ago. That said, a few years ago, a similar ban on comments was attempted by the Suns. PKP was all for it. Then the web traffic just cratered.... and comments were allowed again. So it will be interesting to see what occurs since, these days, clicks are all that count.
ReplyDeletelooks like the readers like not having comments. The people that are commenting are people that never bought a paper or paid for the online subscription, nothing gained by those comments anyway.
DeleteAnd the other shoe dropped at LaPresse...a week after announcing no more print edition (except Saturdays) 150 people are being axed, a third of them from the newsroom.
ReplyDeleteGotta say, looking at the National Post's site or the PM broadsheet sites, it's a lot more compelling to have a comments section. They should be policed, obviously, but an online story without a comments section looks like one hand clapping.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what was to be gained from banning comments altogether, other than the sensation of shoving your head in the sand and hoping the Internet will go away.
Maybe they have made a turnaround? Little if any news running through our office, which is a little unsettling to some of the younger folks. The most recent speculation is what will happen when they release the financials in October. If our paper is a barometer...this is going to be a difficult call for the investors.
ReplyDeleteThe full page PC ad certainly didn't help. Imagine taking your integrity and throwing it out the window in one fell swoop. I am neither PC, Lib, NDP or even Green but really, things are that tough that you could go to that extreme. Some of our readers, what few we have are not so happy, we didn't even have a front page so I guess money means everything content means nothing
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for the Sun paper purchase. Without it the outlook would have been grim grim grim. Not to say it's a rosey picture, it is dire for some. We shake our heads everyday wondering when the bleeding will stop. Falling circulation, hardly an ad to be found that would justify even printing a paper some days. How long can it continue? They say losing it not an option... not seeing a lot of wins lately. In the end though we still are working so there is a bright side to all of this.
ReplyDeleteThe Sun purchase has a time limit, in terms of offsetting the bad financial news. They can say, well our revenue is up so-and-so compared to last year because of the Sun papers...But that story only plays for a year and then what? The chain is sinking fast. And remember, the Sun papers are only profitable because Quebecor cut them to the bone.
ReplyDeleteGlobe and Mail is reporting cost-cutting is on the way as PM scrambles for "new revenue streams"...
I think before Christmas, you will see layoffs and the beginning of what is ultimately going to be a merger of positions and property.
What is so sad to this whole story...newspapers used to make money, and lots of it. Then they decided that if we cut some costs, our revenue will still be there and the bottom line will be bigger. Little did they know what a 16 year old knows if you don't have the people to do the work, it doesn't get done. So they decide to fold over content from the big urban papers, less cost and it's already ready to go. Little did they know that the readers don't want to read what they saw in another paper again, and force feed it to the reader as new local content. Everyday, even with PM our readers are forced to read about what happens in other locales, with little or no regard to the needs and wants of the people that pay for it. Well it's hitting the fan, readers are leaving faster than they can be replaced. So we come to today and a shell of a paper, fewer staff and far less readers and advertisers...and they ask themselves why?
DeleteIf the election wasn't enough to put a smile on your face... here is former Sun News Network star anchor Krista Erickson trashing the deservedly-dead network ... and ripping founder (and Harper mouthpiece) Kory Teneycke a new one.
ReplyDeleteBasically it was even worse than it looked, including Kory's desire to whack everyone at the network he suspected was a "Liberal sympathizer".
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3AJsvaDpFCl8gJ%3Awww.nationalnewswatch.com%2F2015%2F10%2F21%2Fharper-learns-the-folly-of-surrounding-himself-with-obsequious-operatives%2F+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca#.Vih-GvmrTIX
Paul Godfrey on future of debt-heavy PM... no end in sight to the decline of print revenue, tablet push flopped ... won't say whether PM will have fewer newspapers a year from now, but does predict more "consolidation" ... translation: "yes, fewer newspapers"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bnn.ca/Video/player.aspx?vid=737977
Well we know for sure it's not a toronto sun or a london free press, so it must be some of the community papers that will be going. Not that they are putting much effort into saving them anyway. If we were on life support before, I think someone is about to pull the plug.
ReplyDeleteWould make a lot of sense to merge the Post and TO Sun into one product considering the crowded market in Toronto.
ReplyDeleteSame with the broadsheets and Suns in places like Edmonton and Calgary. A merged paper would cut down on production and people costs, while probably keeping most of the existing ad revenue.
It's a little confounding they haven't already done it.
imagine the push back from loyal readers, to whatever product they leave standing. It seems like a no win regardless of what they do. Sure they have the web presence from the Sun papers, but they will slowly start to erode that when they start consolidation. Guess it will boil down to how they want to piss off less, Sun readers or the broadsheet paper readers. Glad I work in a smaller daily, maybe they have beat us up enough to let us just wither on our own.
DeletePush-back? Not sure readers in those urban markets would notice or care that much. Certainly not Sun readers, who, as long as it didn't impact the Sunshine Girl or the TV Guide, barely blinked when Quebecor centralized everything. Hell, when Quebecor locked out Le Journal reporters, circulation of that paper actually went up.
ReplyDeleteAs for the people who say, the Quebecor cuts led to dwindling readership and all you need is to create more and better content and the readers will come ... I point to the Orange County Register, which excited a few print dinosaurs a couple years ago when their new owners embarked on a print-first strategy and hired dozens of new reporters ....
They declared bankruptcy this week, after laying off every position they'd created, and realizing that there is simply no future in print, no matter how hard you try.
That's why all these companies only have one choice to stop the bleeding: cut, cut, cut.
One possibility I've heard thrown around - turn the Suns exclusively into sports papers (that is their strength anyway) and leave news, entertainment, life, etc, to the broadsheets, which aren't terribly strong in sports.
That might be one way to keep both products going for awhile longer.
I don't think that more readers would come to the papers, only that far less would leave it. Small independent papers are springing up everywhere, most of them with Sun people that have been cast off during one of the several culling that have taken place. Their readership is growing rapidly, while ours is almost non-existent. At least once a day I hear on my sales calls how well accepted the "local paper" is. I remember the day when WE were the local paper. Day long past? rough days ahead with the holiday season upon us, sales is far less attractive for the former local paper.
DeletePretty hard to be considered a 'local' paper, when there is no 'local' content. Doesn't take a brain surgeon, or even someone with half a brain, to figure that out, but apparently bean-counters can't. Get back to hard-core local, it's the only strategy that has any chance at all.
DeleteMaybe in the communities, hard core local would work... but even then the profit margins would be so thin, it wouldn't make sense for a company carrying 600 mil in debt to invest.
ReplyDeleteI suspect PM's community weeklies and small dailies will be shuttered or sold over the next 2 years.
As for the urban markets, the Suns have next-to-no news value anymore... the local news is basically ambulance chasing, right wing commentary and pun headlines... the entertainment and life coverage is generic stuff from Toronto that nobody reads; today the lead entertainment story was a review of the Apple TV ... like wtf... that's the best you can do? Hopefully someone got swag out of that.
Only Sun sports stands a chance at carving out a niche.
Could totally see a day when the broadsheets have a Sun sports insert every day rather than an opposing Sun paper ... that product would actually be worth reading.
The bean counters don't care about saving your paper. It's a hedge fund. They want to make money off the interest payments, period. Once they can't, goodbye.
ReplyDeleteSounds like the other shoe is dropping.
ReplyDeleteFrank magazine is reporting that in March the Suns in Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa will be merged with the Herald, Journal and Citizen. Each city will have only one daily newspaper going forward.
If true (and the Journal editor in chief is, not surprisingly, disputing the story) then it makes you wonder what the future is for the Toronto Sun as it prepares to move into the Post building. And let's not even talk about 24 Hours....
Godfrey told Globe the Frank story is "not true" which of course means a detail or two is wrong, and the rest of it is accurate.
DeleteSo you buy a profitable business with a distinct brand and audience ... then dilute that brand and abandon that audience? smart
DeleteThey only bought Sun Media for the cash it generates (to help make those interest payments on that 600m debt) and because it gives them an ad revenue monopoly.
DeleteIt's clear there is no long-term plan here - just milk the papers for their last drop.
Right now they are formulating what will cost them more - keep everything running as is or start pruning. On one hand, you save hugely on production/people costs if you cut/merge. But on the other, you could lose advertisers. Then again, if you have a monopoly, where else are advertisers going to advertise?
re: Frank magazine reporting that the Suns in Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa will be merged with the Herald, Journal and Citizen and each city will have only one daily newspaper going forward.
DeleteThis is not true. Each pair of papers will share an office and will share content but will continue to publish two titles. After a short period of time, each pair will then share one photo department and then share some GA reporters as well as entertainment and some other reporters. Each will maintain separate columnists and editors.
The Sun papers still earn a low, two-digit operating profit that will be milked for as long as possible. Upcoming layoffs will help lower costs.
Slowly merge the newsrooms? Yes. Merge the papers into one? No.
There are a few moments when the numbers perk up a bit but generally everything is still dropping: circulation, readership and advertisers.
The plan is to continue bailing water and throwing people overboard until the storm subsides and then hope we still have a boat that floats.
Basically the Sun will become what the Calgary Mirror (ie: inconsequential) was to the Calgary Sun way way back in the day ...
DeleteFunny how many editors the Cal Sun still has.. EIC, managing editor, assistant managing editor, news editor, assistant news editor, city editor, assistant city editor, photo editor, web editor, a full news desk ... jeez, they have more editors trying to protect their jobs than folks producing content....
Quebecor was too inept to manage the place correctly. They let the managers keep their jobs while hacking and slashing the employees actually producing stories.
At one point, the Calgary Sun had more copy editors than the Toronto Sun, presumably just to keep the upper and middle management insulated ...
Interestingly, the competition bureau has one year to challenge the takeover. So since they only rubber-stamped it in April, it will not be until mid-2016 when things truly change.
DeleteThe Frank article was a true scoop. PM wasn't expecting that kind of bad press until NEXT fall.
But yeah, two products with shared, minimal staff. That's the plan.
So what happens if they review this and decide they have made a mistake? Not like a government agency would ever admit to such a thing. Will PM have to sell some properties? Lets face it, if it comes to that, unless you have press facilities the title is seriously diminished. I see some closures in the future, if they do indeed decide against their rubber stamp.
DeleteNot a good time for Postmedia. The 'out of touch' edict to endorse Harper across the country got eviscerated in London by The Guardian. It's one thing to be mocked in Canada, but you know the US hedge funds take note when their cash cow starts getting international criticism.
ReplyDeletere: the UK Guardian article about Postmedia's endorsement of the Conservatives:
DeleteWhile the media endorsements of the Conservative Party were a purely self-serving effort, do note that the Guardian article was written by a former Globe and Mail reporter in Toronto who wrote the same article a year ago (June 2014) about the media endorsement during the June 2014 Ontario provincial election.
As for "international criticism", I've had many things published in the Guardian because it needs to fill its North American news web pages with something. So if you're a Canadian freelancer like me, do give them a call.
-WMcD
What a farce that entire thing was. People in our town didn't like the fact that the "local" paper was a soapbox for the PC party, and our community voted in a PC member. We lost readers due to this, my mother and father that have taken the paper for my entire life cancelled it, well they tried couldn't get in contact with someone locally and it took a few days for it to finally stop, guess the lines of communication from the overseas call centre to our circulation dept are not too strong. Just another fiasco for the local paper. We've had a few
ReplyDeleteGreat, lengthy piece in the National Observer about the Post Media empire and the recent controversies. Interesting nuggets:
ReplyDelete- The Sun Media purchase is not generating the cash that was expected. A forensic accountant who has seen the books says the big bet has proven to be a disappointment.
- The $50 mil in cuts to happen over the next 2 years will actually happen within the next 12 months.
- The goal of Post Media's managers is to "manage the decline profitably" with cost-cutting keeping the cash flowing.
- In a couple years, look for the company to go back into receivership so assets can be sold in a fire sale, with the hedge funds first in line as creditors to collect.
http://www.nationalobserver.com/2015/11/24/news/tawdry-fall-postmedia-newspaper-empire
Hmm manage decline profitably? Well if that's the case the couple of managers I have seen apparently have given up. No wonder people are beginning to leave the company.
DeleteYou have a manager? Ours are all offsite, see them once in a while or when there is bad news. Bet they get kicked around, but then again they get paid for it.
DeleteThe Toronto Star reprinted the Observer piece and printed some letters to the editor, including former Toronto Sun relationships columnist Valerie Gibson. http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2015/12/06/postmedia-doing-the-godfrey-spin.html
DeletePostmedia gives $925,000 out in bonuses to executives for their wok in acquiring Sun Media. Bonuses for doing their job? And doing it poorly, the books show? We have people who haven't had raises in seven years, and don't even dream of getting a paltry Christmas bonus Absolutely disgusting.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thestar.com/business/2015/11/26/postmedia-paid-1-million-in-bonuses-as-it-slashed-jobs.html
How many times do we get slapped in the face and kiccked in the butt, just to see the people that do NONE of the lifting getting all the praise and bonus? No wonder there is no one in the office anymore, they're probably looking for a second job to pay the bills. Thought it might be different with PM guess it's more of the same.
DeleteWonderful news, so as I write this, at least it is confirmed that the top people get a bonus, at least i can plan ahead for nothing extra in my pay for Christmas. I thought Scrooge was gone when PM bought the company, so much of the same. Disappointed, sure, surprised not in the least.
DeleteChanges happening January 15th. Windsor will be printing some products, less in London.
ReplyDeleteIn case anyone missed it, Post Media handed out $1 mil in bonuses to Godfrey and 5 other executives, even as the company bleeds out and slashes staff. And Wayne Parrish, who was ousted in June, got a $1 mil parachute.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/11/27/paul-godfrey-postmedia-raise_n_8660192.html
Godfrey has a history of getting raises the worse the company performs.
Next up: $50 mil in cuts coming for 2016-17.
If that's the case, he's gonna be richer than he already is. Wonder how a person can look at themselves in the mirror and not see a wicked person. Business is business but to say one thing and do the opposite is just evil. Everyday we toil with less, some of us put in extra hours, that's the job but this is the straw to break a lot of backs. Remember when the newspaper business was a career? Now it is just a job, and not much of one at that.
DeleteJust thinking about how much money they will save by not printing newspapers, just going online? Less staff, No newsprint, ink or the people to deliver them. Fewer reporters, working from home or their car, fewer sales people, and they can work online as well. So close buildings, remove the human part of news delivery and it is BIG money. Lets hope it doesn't get to that but with what we are seeing with the move to online driving both sales and editorial, can it be far off?
DeleteOttawa Citizen building now has an Ottawa Sun logo on it, as the Sun moves in. Same deal in Edmonton, where the Sun staff have moved into the Journal building. The end is nigh....
ReplyDeleteWhen/if they close one, just remove the sign off the building, just as easy as getting rid of staff.
DeleteRemember when Calgary and Edmonton had 24 Hours signs added to their buildings? Yeah. They don't have those anymore.....
DeleteAnd now Postmedia's credit rating has been cut because Standard & Poor’s, which rates the company, doesn't believe Postmedia's dwindling cash flow will be enough to service its massive debt in the years ahead.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/postmedia-credit-rating-cut-on-looming-debt-maturities/article27541893/
Paints a pretty bleak financial picture....
I like the sentence comparing the company's rating to Greece... that made me laugh out loud. Gallows humour, admittedly, but it beats sobbing quietly in the corner.
DeleteFor a laugh outloud...do you think we'll see a Christmas greeting from Paul Godfrey like PK used to do. That always put me in the holiday spirit, bah humbug Ebenezer.
ReplyDeleteSo Lou Clancy, who retired from Sun/Quebecor after the mass 2008 cuts and joined Postmedia in 2010, is now retiring again, this time as PM's senior editorial executive. Must be a lot of blood-letting around the corner.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thestar.com/business/2015/12/02/postmedia-senior-executive-retires.html
Guess Lou knew to get off the boat before it does hit that small piece of ice. Seems there is a life beyond newspapers.
DeleteSo a megalomanic with Sun Media was replaced with a megalomania with Post Media... Everytime I read a story about PM's current financial woes, I'm so glad I got out when I did. The news about the bonuses to Godfrey, et. al., would have sent me right round the bend - especially if I had to face another year of no wage increase and little hope of having a vacation thanks to the staff cutbacks.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas and Happy Holidays...
ReplyDeletehttps://ipolitics.ca/2015/12/21/the-post-is-toast-the-disintegration-of-the-postmedia-chain/
With an already ballooning debt, as the Can$ contnues to fall, so does the likelyhood of PM being able to make their financial obligations, to not only their suppliers but also to their biggest creditor the US hedgefunds. Wonder if $50m in savings will be enough to keep them from filing for protection from their creditors. The rumour lately is that selling titles is not an option as none of the sites has a press. Mid January some printing moving from London to Windsor (could have seen that coming). Soe of my adtertising clients have asked if we will still be here next year, who would think that question would come up. Two clients have moved to radio and one to the local paper, which has been very aggressive in their marketing and is completely local. So to all my fellow PM staffers, Happy Holidays, chances are we won't see each other in the New Year.
ReplyDeleteSo many portents of doom... Steven Shapiro, the senior hedge fund manager who was behind Postmedia, taking 2016 off; Lou Clancy retiring as of the end of 2015 ... It is true when they announced $50 mil in cuts, the loonie was in much better shape than it is now, meaning $50 mil over 2 years probably won't be good enough. Maybe $50 mil each year for 2 years, and then receivership? Godfrey's contract will be up then, so he can grab for the golden parachute.
ReplyDeleteQuarterly financials are released in mid-January .... Don't expect good news.
Say, around 2019, PKP will be out of politics and looking for something to do, too. Maybe Quebecor will snap up the whole Postmedia operation after it goes bankrupt and starts selling assets ... haha.
I doubt in 2019 there will be anything for him to buy. I think given the pitiful forcast for PM doesn't bode well for the newspaper industry. 2016 will be a hell of a ride, might make us wish Stun Media was still around...ok kidding, but we all thought the nightmare had ended with the purchase, guess not.
Deletethirty-five percent on the US dollar. I'm not an economist or banker, but WOW. Who or what company can rebound from that without being near bankrupt? In the end the boys at the top are raking it in, the workers are the ones that will pay. Hell of a way to look to the new year, unemployment.
ReplyDeleteAs we leave 2015 behind, lets hope that 2016 will see a small light for PM. We do see a train coming and it seems to be speeding far faster than anything we ever saw with Stun Media. Happy New Year
ReplyDeleteGet ready for merger rumours in Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton to dominate this year. With content sharing happening on a daily basis, this might the next logical step although you risk the wrath of what readership Postmedia and Sun Media have left. http://www.troymedia.com/2016/01/03/postmedia-rumoured-to-be-closing-some-sun-media-papers/
ReplyDeleteIf Postmedia was interested in having a newspaper/media empire, I would say, yes, a merger of all their brands is likely.
ReplyDeleteBut really, PM's owners just want enough cash to pay the interest for a couple more years before going back to receivership. In which case it makes more sense to keep the brands/IP separate. In theory, you have more to sell during the fire sale.
So I expect separate products, but merged interchangeable staff. Right now the companies are still operating as two editorially -- a lot of needless duplication and a lot of easy cuts could be made, particularly in things like entertainment. No reader is going to notice or care that the same movie review or celebrity interview is running in both the Herald and the Sun.
Ditto the number of senior and mid-management editors and copy/web editors. Everything printed could be produced from one page mill.
By the time the fire sale happens, they will be selling off little more than website domains.
Been said before, but now with the C$ falling, as are oil prices, is receivership the only avenue? The economy is slowing yet again, revenue already tight will be near impossible to overcome. To say there is a bit of panic from those "in the know" as to what direction will be put in place.
ReplyDeleteTwo small-circulating publications in the Muskoka region have closed shop. 11 full-time and 15 part-time staff given severance packages http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/postmedia-shuts-down-muskoka-publications-citing-financial-losses-low-readership/article28063390/
ReplyDeletewe'll see after the financials are released if more are to come. How can they not?
DeleteNext week is the latest quarterly report. Postmedia stocks fell 89 per cent in 2015 -- like, how is that even possible? How can a company that loses 89 per cent in stock value in a single year continue to exist?
ReplyDeleteI know from speaking to execs at other media companies that they are already considering what individual PM papers they might snap up when the fire sale happens in the next 2-3 years (or sooner).
To be honest, given how badly some have been driven into the ground, they may have to just close them, there is so little left of some of these papers.
Deleteforget the 2-3 year sale, 1 year at the most. Wow and we thought Stun Media was in bad shape. For some of us Mid Jan will see printing move from London to Windsor, lets hope it is better than we had. Late papers, missing papers, terrible printing... guess it couldn't be worse, or could it?
DeleteBe fascinating to see what happens. Probably piecemeal sales -- small dailies and weeklies to competitors, or they're just shuttered.
DeleteAs for the big papers, do they piecemeal them off or sell all their urbans to likely buyer TorStar (which almost got the then-Canwest papers in 2009 and almost bought Sun Media in the 1990s)?
Once TorStar takes it, you can say goodbye to a number of TO dailies.
Fair to assume the Sun chain, as it exists now, will be gone in 3-4 years.
Curious to see whether it's merger or non-merger. Two papers into one, or just shared staff? How attractive is it to purchase a paper that shares its staff and resources with another publication? And wouldn't it better to snap up a paper you know has no competition? Given that, maybe multiple PM/Sun mergers is the better bet. But we shall see ...
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of mergers, the Calgary Sun newsroom is currently being folded into the Herald building. This follows Edmonton and Ottawa, of course.
ReplyDeleteSo the only thing left is the Toronto Sun leaving 333 King (where the Globe and Mail is getting a shiny new HQ ironically) to move into a spiffy broom closet in the Post building. What's the time-table on that?
I thought that move had already happened, no? Or was it just an announcement by Godfrey? I'm in Niagara and wondering what will happen here with our three dailies... consolidate to one? keep going as three? at some point the hammer has to drop...
DeleteYou know what I don't miss? The fear of being cut. The when. The if. It's done. I have picked up the pieces and my life is better. Much better. There is life beyond Stun Media/Post Media.
ReplyDeleteWhatever comes your way, do not just elave on your own. Ask for a package, there will be some available...sooner than later. If you leave on your own, do so with a job already in hand. Remember months ago it was suggested that you be kind to the other local media that might be in your town? Well looks like that was very good advise. There is so much money to be FOUND that the only way to do so is to either cut people or close enite newspapers.
DeleteSpeaking of the fear of being cut ...
ReplyDeleteThe new plan, announced today along with the quarterly bloodletting, is to cut $50 mil by the end of May. And a total of $80 mil by mid-2017. Remember the old plan was to cut $50 mil by the end of 2017.
The question is, how do they cut $50 mil out of the company in less than 5 months?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/postmedia-posts-42-million-first-quarter-loss-aims-to-cut-50-million-by-end-of-may/article28141427/
No way it is just $80 mil by mid-2017. Receivership before then, especially as the loonie crashes.
ReplyDeleteGodfrey quote: "Where we can remove duplication, we must."
ReplyDeleteIn a press release, PM said it will look for "acquisition synergies"
In the big markets, you're on the hit list if you are - part of a centralized dept that PM already has the equivalent of (like showbiz), a general assignment reporter (how many people do you need to send to a crime scene) or a web/copy editor (easily automated or outsourced).
If you are a high profile political/news or sports columnist, you are safe. They will need you to make it look like the Suns are still, well, functioning.
Upper management dinosaurs always seem to survive, but you have to wonder if all those Suns, now in PM buildings, really need editor in chiefs, managing editors, assistant managing editors, news editors, assistant news editors, city editors, assistant city editors, etc.....
And it gets worse.
ReplyDeleteAnalysts just cut Postmedia's target stock price to zero... putting it in the same company as Radioshack.com
Basically, they say there is no way out for the company, no matter how much they cut. But keep cutting anyway.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/analyst-cuts-price-target-on-postmedia-to-zero/article28182322/
Maybe NP should donate some of the papers to learning institutions, like the Anniston, Ala., Star, the Philly papers and so on. Make papers a trust or a non-profit. Face it, everyone wants news, no one wants to pay for it.
ReplyDeleteNot a chance. PM is owned by hedge funds and even closing down papers or cutting the number of days they publish enhances the bottom line.
ReplyDeleteAnd sorry, but it won't be the Suns potentially saved down the road by trusts or non-profits. The Suns are regarded as sub-class products. They will be the first to be scuttled.
Amid all the cuts, the hedge fund that owns Postmedia (Golden Tree) paid $275,000 US for a speech from Hillary Clinton.
ReplyDeletehttps://theintercept.com/2016/01/08/hillary-clinton-earned-more-from-12-speeches-to-big-banks-than-most-americans-earn-in-their-lifetime/
Uh-oh. Godfrey has asked for a 15 minute phone call with Ottawa's mayor on an urgent matter.
ReplyDeleteRemember, Godfrey let politicians know when PM was buying the Suns. Maybe this is the heads-up that massive layoffs or mergers are being announced asap.
Wondering if the mayors of Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto have gotten similar calls?
http://www.metronews.ca/news/ottawa/2016/01/18/postmedia-ceo-asked-to-meet-with-mayor-jim-watson.html
2 mail room staff cut in Sarnia, 3 sales people are reported to have left for other employment. Part of the duplication now that Windsor is printing their products? Oh and someone mentioned print quality would be better in Windsor...apparently not.
ReplyDeleteI think we will need a fresh comment section after today.
ReplyDeleteAnd the axe falls.. unfortunate...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.metronews.ca/news/ottawa/2016/01/19/postmedia-to-merge-ottawa-sun-and-ottawa-citizen-newspapers.html
So it has begun. I'm sure it won't be the last such announcement in the coming months.
ReplyDeleteWould be good to know who is gone, and who is staying.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/postmedia-story/article28257456/
Actually, since upper management dinosaurs aren't in the union they're easier to cut.
ReplyDeleteNone gone from Ottawa Citizen today, but 12 gone from the Ottawa Sun newsroom: Chris Hofley, Mike Sutherland-Shaw, Matt Day, Corey Larocque, Tony Spears, Shane Ross, Paul Rutherford, Don Wilcox, Danielle Dube, Keaton Robbins, Sam Cooley, Julienne Bay. Surviving in OttSun editorial because of seniority provided in the CBA: columnist Sue Sherring (go figure), reporter Jon Willing, photogs Tony Caldwell and Errol McGihon, reporter Aedan Helmer, sports guys Tim Baines, Bruce Garrioch and Don Brennan, ME Michelle Walters. Bets are the Sun will be shuttered on Friday, April 1 right after the Competition Bureau's influence ends.
ReplyDeleteHow many managers are there now at these papers? I see multiple reporters cut in Calgary, but not one of their managers. But hey, somebody has to need to go for a smoke and nurse their pot belly, right?
ReplyDeleteWe were just talking last week about April 1 and wondering how many of us will still be here by the time the culling begins at papers in Ontario
ReplyDelete