From a story in the Toronto Star by Nicholas Keung headlined “Postmedia to stop Monday print editions of nine major dailies”:
Nine urban daily newspapers across Canada will stop printing on Mondays beginning Oct. 17, a result of what the industry calls a losing war with tech giants like Google and Facebook over ad revenues.
Postmedia Network Inc., owned by Postmedia Network Canada Corp., said the affected publications are the Vancouver Sun, The Province, Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun, Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Sun and Montreal Gazette.
That will leave the Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, Winnipeg Sun, Journal de Montréal and Journal de Québec the only dailies in Canada that publish print editions seven days a week, said media blogger and analyst Steve Faguy.
“The decision to eliminate Monday print editions reflects the rapidly changing news consumption habits of our readers, the needs of our advertisers and the escalating costs of printing and delivering a printed product,” Postmedia’s Phyllise Gelfand said.
“Journalism is our core product and we have many delivery channels for the content we create. Stories can start online, be published in print and our e-paper and evolved further online.”
The news came on the eve of parliament’s upcoming heritage-committee hearings into Bill C-18, the Online News Act, which would set up a new regulatory framework to force the tech giants to compensate media outlets for news content shared on their sites.
According to Heritage Canada, more than 450 news outlets have closed since 2008, with more than 60 of those closures coming in the last two years. Ad revenues have shifted away from traditional news outlets to digital platforms and social media; in 2020, more than 80 per cent of the $9.7 billion in online ads in Canada went to two tech giants, the ministry said.
“The industry is just under tremendous pressure and challenge right now. Google and Facebook are taking such a huge share of advertising dollars,” said Paul Deegan, president and CEO of News Media Canada, an industry lobby group representing 560 publications including the Toronto Star.
“The decision to eliminate Monday print editions reflects the rapidly changing news consumption habits of our readers, the needs of our advertisers and the escalating costs of printing and delivering a printed product,” Postmedia spokesperson Phyllise Gelfand said.
“Journalism is our core product and we have many delivery channels for the content we create. Stories can start online, be published in print and our e-paper and evolved further online.”
“We hope that the legislation will be passed by Christmas because the situation is just so dire. Advertising dollars have not come back to pre-pandemic levels and what we really need is to ensure that media outlets are being compensated fairly for the content that their journalists create. Bill C-18 will help level the playing field.”
The proposed law would require tech giants to make fair commercial deals with outlets for the news and information that is shared on their platforms and sets several criteria for the deals, including fair compensation, respect for journalistic independence, and investment in a diversity of Canadian news outlets, including independent local businesses.
“Printed newspapers are still very valuable to many Canadians. That’s their primary source of news, in particular when you get into more rural communities,” said Deegan.
It’s not known how much Postmedia will save from the reduction in printing, but Gelfand, the company’s spokesperson, said there are no job cuts tied to the move and the ePaper versions of the affected newspapers will still be published on Mondays.
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