Several newspapers in our area are among the dozens being swapped between two of the biggest Canadian players in that industry – and almost all of them will be closed.
Torstar Corp. and Postmedia Network Inc. announced Monday that they were trading dozens of newspapers, primarily in Ontario, and planned to close most of the affected titles.
Among the newspapers being acquired by Postmedia are the Brant News, Meaford Express, Norfolk News, St. Marys Journal-Argus and Stratford Gazette, all of which will be closed. The Exeter Times-Advocate, which was also part of the transaction, will remain open.
In total, the two organizations plan to close 36 of the 41 papers involved in the deal – mainly in areas where Postmedia and Torstar had been running newspapers in competition with each other. A total of 291 jobs will be lost.
Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey said in a statement that the company sees no “viable business models” for most of the papers it has acquired, due mainly to declining advertising revenues, while Torstar CEO John Boynton said his company sees the deal as a way to concentrate its efforts on the regions where it can be strongest.
Local news researchers say Canada has lost more than 200 separate sources of local news since 2008.
With files from The Canadian Press
