Shakeup in Ontario newspaper industry
Transaction allows Torstar and Postmedia to focus on strategic areas and core products
Canada’s two largest print and digital media firms announced Monday they have signed a deal to buy and sell 41 newspapers, mainly in Ontario.
Torstar Corp., publisher of the Toronto Star, Waterloo Region Record and Hamilton Spectator, announced that it has purchased eight weekly community publications, seven daily community newspapers and two free daily newspapers from Postmedia.
Postmedia Network Canada Corp. announced a deal with Metroland Media Group and Free Daily News Group Inc., both subsidiaries of Torstar Corp., to buy 22 of Torstar’s community newspapers and two free commuter daily newspapers.
The two companies will close most of the affected papers in order to focus more efficiently on key areas.
“This transaction will allow us to operate more efficiently through increased geographic synergies in a number of our primary regions,” said John Boynton, president and chief executive officer of Torstar.
“By acquiring publications within or adjacent to our primary areas and selling publications outside our primary areas, we will be able to put a greater focus on regions where we believe we can be more effective in serving both customers and clients.”
Metroland Media will continue to operate the St. Catharines Standard, Niagara Falls Review, Welland Tribune and Peterborough Examiner.
Effective Monday, the daily publications that closed are the Barrie Examiner, Orillia Packet & Times and Northumberland Today.
The eight community newspapers closing are the Bradford Times, Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin, Fort Erie Times, Innisfil Examiner, Niagara Advance, Pelham News, Inport News (Port Colborne) and the Thorold Niagara News.
All of the publications were bought as part of the non-cash transaction — as the properties have approximately similar fair values — between Torstar and Postmedia.
Postmedia intends to continue operating the Exeter Times-Advocate and the Exeter Weekender, but is closing all the other properties it acquired in the deal by midJanuary.
The commuter paper Metro Ottawa, which employs 12 people full-time and 13 people part-time, including three in editorial, will close, as will Metro Winnipeg, with 12 full-time and 15 part-time positions, including four in editorial.
Both 24 Hours Toronto, which under Postmedia had no staff directly employed by the paper, and 24 Hours Vancouver, which had one employee, will be closed.
In all, nearly 300 full- and parttime employees will be affected, including those working in editorial, sales, circulation and distribution. All will receive severance packages.
“This transaction allows Postmedia to focus on strategic areas and core products, and allows us to continue with a suite of community-based products, in a deeply disrupted industry,” said Paul Godfrey, executive chair and CEO of Postmedia.
He said the costs of publishing dozens of small community newspapers in the regions means that most of them no longer have viable business models.
On news of the closings, Canadian union leader Jerry Dias urged federal Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly to take action to protect print journalism.
Joly unveiled a cultural strategy in September that was criticized by industry experts for lacking expected measures that could have given a boost to Canada’s struggling newspapers.
At the time, she said Ottawa had no interest in bailing out industry models that are no longer viable, and would instead focus on supporting innovation, experimentation and the transition to digital platforms.
On Monday, Dias, the national president of Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, argued that helping print media out of a crisis does not have to be about propping up a failed business model.
“The federal government has to step up,” he said. “If the government wants to have a thriving industry, if they want to have freedom of expression, if they want to have journalistic integrity, then we’re going to have to find a mechanism to deal with it … You put money into journalism. That’s what the issue is.”