Postmedia makes cutbacks to Atlantic Canada newspapers

This past summer, the Toronto-based news company Postmedia Network Inc. bought Atlantic Canada’s SaltWire Network Inc. According to court documents, the Halifax-based company had acquired at least $64 million in debt and had been facing insolvency (the state in which financial obligations cannot be met). The company had filed for creditor protection under the Federal Act CCAA (Companies’ Creditor Arrangement Act) preceding the one-million-dollar purchase.

President and CEO of Postmedia, Andrew Macleod, spoke with host Portia Clark on CBC Radio’s Information Morning regarding the reshaping of SaltWire’s business model stating, “things need to change as we build new dynamic models for the future that will be successful […] All we are trying to do is ensure they [the previous papers under SaltWire management] are viable and they’re not losing a lot of money which was occurring under the previous models.” This statement is in response to the concern over publication and staff cutbacks since Postmedia assumed management control of SaltWire’s titles, especially regarding the local paper of St. John, Newfoundland The Telegram. The Telegram was reduced from daily print issues to weekly print issues. The loss of daily print issues has made Newfoundland the only province that does not have a daily newspaper. Furthermore, approximately 30% of the paper’s editorial staff were laid off.

SaltWire’s state of insolvency was the initial threat to local journalism, as it owned almost two dozen newspapers in Atlantic Canada. However, Postmedia’s involvement did not eradicate concerns over job stability or local journalism in general. The October 15 edition of Halifax’s Chronicle Herald did not feature its typical local news story on the front page. Instead, it displayed a huge advertisement from the government of Alberta denouncing Ottawa’s proposed energy production cap. Alberta is the core of Canada’s oil production and would stand to lose profits if a cap was imposed. “Ottawa’s energy production cap will make groceries more expensive,” the advertisement said, emphasized by the use of capital letters. It was accompanied by a photo of a mother and her two children grocery shopping. It also included a link to a website where the Alberta government further denounces Ottawa’s green proposal. This advertisement appeared on the front of many other major daily newspapers under Postmedia’s control.

The Telegram was not the only paper to face significant cutbacks. Newspapers all across the SaltWire chain have been affected. Argosy alumni Michael de Adder was let go from Halifax’s Chronicle Herald after 27 years with the paper. The acclaimed cartoonist has commented on the infamous Chronicle Herald edition in his Substack newsletter THE deEP STATE : The political artwork of Michael de Adder. In an edition titled “The Chronicle Herald under Postmedia” de Adder said, “two of the pages are propaganda ads for Alberta energy telling you the government is to blame for the high price of groceries and the only thing that can save you is Alberta energy” and regarding the opinions section: “no cartoon, the first time since before WWII, one propaganda piece on online journalism and local news that is bullshit, and an opinion piece on how Nova Scotia should use Alberta, yet Alberta again, as an example of cost-cutting in education” through the controversial charter school system.

President and CEO Macleod remained adamant while on Information Morning with Clark that Postmedia is acting in the best interest of the SaltWire titles: “our goal is to ensure the viability and success of these titles so that we can continue to serve the Maritimes and Atlantic Canada going forward […] we need to ensure that they can be viable, because I think everyone needs to remember that they weren’t formally viable and they were facing a difficult closure style of event.” The future of journalism in Atlantic Canada remains unclear, but unfortunately, it is safe to assume that there will be more cutbacks in staff and publications. De Adder jokingly called the infamous edition of the Chronicle Herald the Alberta Chronicle Herald, in a tweet following its publication. That might just be where we are headed. Outside news, printed by outside people in replacement of local stories, printed by our local presses, many of which were not included in the sale.