Category Archives: Post Media
New tentative Kennedy Heights closure deal
Postmedia Decapitates Parliament Bureau: A Tipping Point?
The more investigative reporters sacked, the less incentive the rest have to probe.
Source : By Sean Holman, Yesterday, TheTyee.ca
Postmedia’s decision to torch its parliamentary bureau last week will inevitably compromise the newspaper chain’s ability to produce investigative public affairs reporting.
There will be fewer hands to file access to information requests, fewer eyes to read public records and fewer minds to think of questions that aren’t being asked.
That’s a blow to Canada’s democracy, given that Postmedia publishes the National Post, the Canada.com website and nine newspapers in major cities across the country.
Indeed, CTV Power Play host Don Martin has already eloquently made a similar point.
But I also wonder whether the now endemic level of such layoffs in the industry could compromise the willingness of still employed journalists to do critical investigative work without fear or favour.
Let me explain. In my experience, it’s not uncommon for reporters to end up working for or trying to influence the officials and institutions they once covered. For example, journalists on the politics beat have been known to eventually become government staffers and lobbyists.
So it’s reasonable to assume that, given the instability of the news industry, some journalists may increasingly come to see the subjects of their stories as potential employers. In doing so, those same journalists may come to wonder how their coverage will affect their chances of being hired if they are downsized.
True, most institutions and officials understand that journalists have to report on news releases and news events. They may even understand that journalists need to ask tough questions as part of that coverage. But how do those institutions and officials feel when a journalist initiates a story rather than
responds to what others are publicly doing and saying?
Do those institutions and officials think the journalist is just doing their job (true) or do they think the journalist is just making trouble (false)?
A changing job description?
In attempting to answer those questions, it’s worth remembering that as the news media’s ability to produce such investigative journalism declines, so too may the frequency of such reports. Hard-hitting reporting will likely become even more of an outlier on the nation’s news pages and broadcasts than it already is.
As a result of this rarity, some institutions and officials may increasingly come to see investigative reporting as not part of a journalist’s job — in practice, if not principle.
So how willing would those institutions and officials be to hire someone who has, in their opinion, just been making trouble? How many journalists — who are working under the threat of unemployment — are asking that same question?
And how might that affect the news media’s willingness to investigate the powerful, rather than just repeating what the powerful have to say?
Of course, I don’t necessarily have the answers to any of these questions — or the many others that may arise if journalists increasingly start thinking about their job futures rather than their present jobs. Moreover, it’s important to remember there are many reporters for whom the public trust will always come before any personal considerations.
But as the number of people guarding the bulwark of liberty continues to forcibly decline, these are important questions worth asking.
Postmedia and union talks break down over contracting out of printing
Source: thetyee.ca
Talks between the company that publishes the Vancouver Sun and Province and the union that represents their workers broke down after two days of negotiations earlier this month over contracting out of the printing of both newspapers.
That increases the likelihood of a labour dispute in a year’s time over Pacific Newspaper Group’s plan to have outside companies handle the printing.
“They can lock us out or we can go on strike,” said Unifor Local 2000 vice-president Gary Engler. “Of course, we have the right to picket and all of those sorts of things.”
Postmedia Network recently announced it will sell the Surrey property where its printing plant is located and either contract out the printing or build a new plant that would require fewer workers. The company imposed a Nov. 18 deadline for an agreement to be reached on staffing levels for a new plant, but a Unifor release called the company’s demands “too extreme” for the union to accept.
“Among other conditions, the company insists on the right to choose from among our current members as to who would be able to work at a new plant,” it stated. “It was estimated that only about one-quarter of our current Kennedy Heights members would be asked to work at the new facility.”
The union also claims the company offered far less severance pay for displaced press operators than it has offered its editorial and business staff under a Voluntary Staff Reduction Plan.
The collective agreement between Unifor and Postmedia’s subsidiary Pacific Newspaper Group expires on Nov. 30, 2014. Engler said the company suggested more talks in January, but the Unifor release called agreement “highly unlikely.” PNG announced it has already contracted with Transcontinental Printing to handle printing in the event that agreement cannot be reached with Unifor on staffing levels for a new plant.
Engler said the recent talks revealed that only the Sun would be printed at Transcontinental’s plant on Annacis Island, however, with another printing company handling the Province. The current collective agreement prevents contracting out, and its provisions would be extended under the B.C. Labour Code in the event of a strike or lockout.
“We know where the printing is going,” noted Engler. “Transcontinental is unionized as well. Where the Province is going is a non-union plant.”
Meanwhile, another large U.S. hedge fund has acquired a major ownership interest in Postmedia. Silver Point Capital recently bought a 19 per cent stake in the company, which makes it the second largest owner of Postmedia behind New York-based GoldenTree Asset Management, which owns about 35 per cent.
Canada’s largest chain of dailies, which was founded in the 19 century by the Southam family, was bought out of the bankruptcy of Canwest Global Communications in 2010 by a group of its creditors, with financial backing from several U.S. hedge funds.
Vancouver journalist Marc Edge is a frequent contributor to The Tyee.
– See more at: http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/11/26/Postmedia-Union-Talks/#sthash.4D7Zafpj.dpuf
Pacific Newspaper Group wants to reset image for readers and employees
Source: j-source.ca
Postmedia Network’s B.C. papers have suffered a spate of bad news recently—a large number of employees took buyouts from The Province and the Vancouver Sun, and there were rumours the two brands would be merged into one newspaper. Then there was that memo from Pacific News Group president Gordon Fisher that riled many, putting two floors of its building up for lease and the sale of its B.C. printing plant.
“PNG has been in the news in Vancouver this year for a variety of, shall I say, wrong reasons,” The Province’s editor-in-chief Wayne Moriarty told J-Source.
Now, the two newspapers want to “reset” the conversation. Collectively, 86 per cent of Lower Mainland adults read the Sun and The Province every month. That’s a 10.3 per cent increase from a year ago, according to statistics in an editorial note Moriarty wrote.
US Hedge Funds Squeezing Profitable Postmedia: Union
As media giant makes 17 per cent profit, Sun, Province publisher says more fat to cut.
Source: TheTyee.ca
Faceless foreign ownership is behind newspaper publisher Postmedia’s push to cut costs at Vancouver’s duopoly dailies, according to the head of the union that represents workers at the Sun and Province. “One of the big problems with Postmedia is it’s controlled by U.S. hedge funds,” said Mike Bocking, president of Unifor Local 2000. Click here to read entire story
Postmedia to close Kennedy Heights plant
Source: mediaunion.ca
The Kennedy Heights printing plant will be put up for sale immediately and operations there will cease sometime in 2015, the union was told today by Paul Godfrey, CEO of Postmedia.
The company presented two possible options going forward. One is contracting out the work currently done at Kennedy Heights. The company has “entered into a contract with Transcontinental” to print papers effective early 2015, Godfrey told Local 2000 representatives.
The other option is the union and company reaching an agreement to open a new plant that would cost substantially less to operate than Kennedy Heights. Godfrey explained that the contract between Postmedia and Transcontinental will not go into effect if the company and union reach a deal before Nov. 18, 2013 that reduces costs at a new plant by 70-75 percent.
Our current contract language says “there will be no involuntary loss of employment of any regular employee during the life of the contract as a result of” contracting out.
Union officers will be consulting with our legal counsel and meeting with members to discuss our next steps.
The company said it was hoping to have further discussions soon.
Postmedia also announced today that it is selling the Calgary Herald building and land and will be contracting out printing beginning in November.
Postmedia drops publishers
Source: theglobeandmail.com
Postmedia Network Inc. is trying to stanch losses by eliminating the publisher position at its chain of 10 newspapers, which includes the National Post, the Montreal Gazette, and the Ottawa Citizen.
A staff memo issued Tuesday afternoon by Paul Godfrey, Postmedia’s president and chief executive officer, said the company’s business operations are being reorganized into three regions, with all editorial functions overseen by the senior vice-president of content, Lou Clancy.
Follow this link to read the entire story
Vancouver Sun, The Province offering employee buyouts
Source: theglobeandmail.com
The Vancouver Sun and The Province newspapers will offer their employees buyouts to deal with “unprecedented revenue declines,” their publisher said in a memo to employees that bluntly warned that unless changes were made the papers wouldn’t be likely to survive a drop in print advertising.
To read the entire story follow this link.
Postmedia loss deepens
Source: theglobeandmail.com
Losses deepened at Postmedia Network Canada Corp. in the last quarter, as national and classified advertising in its newspapers continued to decline.
The publisher –which owns such big-city metros such as the Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette and Calgary Herald in addition to the National Post – said it lost $14.2-million in its second quarter, compared with $11.1-million a year ago.