Monthly Archives: March 2011

Newspaper reach holds steady, overall readership increases

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Source: marketingmag.ca

The latest readership data from NADbank shows that newspapers’ print editions are still the most popular way to read them, staving off digital media’s quest for dominance, for now.

NADbank’s 2010 newspaper readership report shows that while migration to newspaper websites is still happening, readers continue to use print editions as their primary source for news. According to the report, 73% of Canadians read at least one printed newspaper each week; 22% visited a newspaper website each week.

The 2010 study also shows an increase in overall newspaper readership. The number of adults that read a daily or visited a newspaper website each week rose from 14.7 million in 2009 to 15 million in 2010. Both figures represent 78% reach in their respective years.

Across all markets, 73% of readers read a printed edition of a daily newspaper each week and 71% read only the printed edition.

While most adults roam between print and online editions, 6% visited only the newspaper website.

Painting the bigger picture, the study shows that nearly eight out of 10 adults living in daily newspaper markets read either a printed edition or visited a newspaper website each week.

On the average weekday, 47% of adults read a printed daily newspaper, 43% read a Saturday edition and 21% a Sunday edition.

The study gives newspaper readership results for 82 Canadian newspapers and two Detroit newspapers in 53 markets across Canada. NADbank’s database contains the readership habits of 72% of Canadian adults.

A breakdown of readership in the top 10 markets delves into weekly readership for print-only and total readership. The highest readership overall (for both print and online) is Winnipeg (79% weekly printed, 83% total weekly). Next is Vancouver (76% weekly printed, 80% total weekly), Ottawa-Gatineau (73% weekly printed, 80% total weekly), Quebec City (76% weekly printed, 79% total weekly) and Calgary (74% weekly printed, 78% total weekly).

In addition to the 2010 readership study released yesterday, which contains readership and demographic data, NADbank is readying its 2010 Supplementary Report in May, which will include the 2010 single-year data for the top six markets—Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton—as well as Halifax.

Originally published in Marketing Magazine,March 31, 2011

Workers at Windsor Star give bargaining team strike mandate

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Windsor Typographical Union | CWA Canada Local 30553

Postmedia Network’s attempt to eliminate an early-retirement provision in their contracts has employees at the Windsor Star up in arms.

Members of three unions on Sunday voted 96 per cent in favour of giving their joint council a strike mandate, which could see them hoisting picket signs by mid-May.

David Esposti, the CWA Canada staff representative who has been assisting the Windsor Typographical Union (WTU) in negotiations that began in late 2010, says Postmedia’s assault on their contracts has electrified the membership.

“This is a very serious undertaking. The three unions are standing together on this issue,” he says.

The wages of the 65 WTU members who work in the mailroom are also threatened: The company wants to reduce part-time hopper feeders’ guaranteed minimum shift from four hours to three, which amounts to a 25-per-cent pay cut, says Esposti.

The collective agreement that expired at the end of December was reached three years ago only minutes after a midnight strike-lockout deadline. Standing united, the WTU, the Communications Energy and Paperworkers (pressroom) and the Canadian Auto Workers (newsroom, advertising, business office) were able to win modest improvements and made no concessions.

This time around, the newspaper is in the hands of Postmedia Network, a group of Canwest creditors who purchased the failing company’s publishing division last summer. In the runup to an initial public offering expected this spring, Postmedia has been cutting hundreds of jobs at the former Canwest newspapers.

With conciliation scheduled for next week, Esposti says the joint council is eager to get on with some serious negotiations and not waste time getting to mediation, the last stage before they can be in a legal strike position. “Let’s start the dance, sooner rather than later,” is the message he’d like to send to management.

CEP requests government review foreign ownership of Postmedia

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Source: mediaunion.ca/

The national office of the CEP today formally asked the government to review the purchase of Canwest newspapers by U.S. investors. The press release is below.

OTTAWA, Feb. 25 /CNW/ – The Harper government should immediately review the purchase of Canada’s largest newspaper chain by foreign investors, says Canada’s media union in a formal request to James Moore, Minister of Heritage.

U.S. investment companies own 92% of Postmedia shares and since their purchase of the Canwest papers last summer, 500 jobs are gone and work is being outsourced to the Dominican Republic and the Philippines.

“This is hardly of net benefit to Canadians, their communities or the critical flow of information in a democratic society,” says Peter Murdoch, Vice-President, Media, for the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. The Postmedia papers include major Canadian dailies and weeklies across the country.

“The Investment Canada Act requires a foreign purchase of Canadian companies to meet the test of a ‘net benefit’ to Canada, but we fail to see how it helps Canada to see these papers damaged by foreign investors carrying heavy debt loads, particularly when there were Canadian companies ready to buy them.

“Surely the newspapers that keep millions of Canadians informed are as much strategic national assets as potash companies or the stock exchange.”

Murdoch pointed out that the current ownership structure of Postmedia fails to even meet the requirements for Canadian ownership under the Income Tax Act. He says the union fears further job losses and even closures may be on way unless the government takes action.