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Postmedia Network

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Postmedia Network Canada Corp.
FormerlyCanwest Limited Partnership (2000–2010)
Company typePublic
IndustryMass media
PredecessorCanwest
FoundedJuly 13, 2010;14 years ago(2010-07-13)
Headquarters365 Bloor Street East
Toronto,Ontario
M4W 3L4
ProductsNewspapers,media websites, news content
RevenueIncrease$458.2 millionCAD(2022)[1]
Owner
Number of employees
2,006[2]
Websitepostmedia.com

Postmedia Network Canada Corp.[3](also known asPostmedia Network,Postmedia NewsorPostmedia) is a foreign-owned Canadian-basedmedia conglomerate[4]consisting of the publishing properties of the formerCanwest,with primary operations in English-language newspaper publishing, news gathering and Internet operations. It is best known for being the owner of theNational Postand theFinancial Post.The company is headquartered at Postmedia Place onBloor Streetin Toronto.[5]

The company's strategy has seen its publications invest greater resources in digital news gathering and distribution, including expandedwebsitesand digital news apps for smartphones and tablets.[6]This began with a revamp and redesign of theOttawa Citizen,which debuted in 2014.[6]

Two-thirds, or 66%, of Postmedia is currently owned by American media conglomerateChatham Asset Management.[7]

History

[edit]

The ownership group was assembled byNational PostCEOPaul Godfrey[8]in 2010 to bid for the chain of newspapers being sold by the financially troubled Asper family's Canwest (the company's broadcasting assets were sold separately toShaw Communications). Godfrey secured financial backing from a U.S.private equity firm,the Manhattan-based hedge fundGoldenTree Asset Management—which owns 35 per cent—as well as IJNR Investment Trust, Nyppex and other investors.[8]The group completed a $1.1 billion transaction to acquire the chain from Canwest on July 13, 2010.[8]

On October 6, 2014, Postmedia's CEO Godfrey announced a deal to acquire the English-language operations ofSun Media.[8][9]The purchase received regulatory approval from the federalCompetition Bureauon March 25, 2015,[10]even though the company manages competitive papers in several Canadian cities; while the Sun Media chain owns numerous other papers, four of its fiveSun-branded tabloids operate in markets where Postmedia already publishes abroadsheetcompetitor.[9]Board chairRod Phillipshas cited theVancouvermarket, in which the two main daily newspapers, theVancouver SunandThe Province,have had common ownership for over 30 years, as evidence that the deal would not be anticompetitive.[9]The purchase did not include Sun Media's now-defunctSun News Network.[9]The acquisition was approved by the Competition Bureau on March 25, 2015,[11]and closed on April 13.[12]

In 2016, the company sought to restructure its compensation plans and reduce spending by as much as 20%, after reporting a net loss of $99.4 million, or 35 cents per diluted share, in the fourth-quarter ended Aug 31, compared with a $54.1 million net loss, or 19 cents per diluted share, in the same period a year earlier. This resulted in 90 newsroom staff losing their jobs.[13]

On November 27, 2017, Postmedia andTorstarannounced a transaction in which Postmedia will sell seven dailies, eight community papers, and the Toronto and Vancouver24 Hoursto Torstar, in exchange for 22 community papers and the Ottawa and Winnipeg versions ofMetro.Except for theExeter Times-Advocate,St. Catharines Standard,Niagara Falls Review,Peterborough Examiner,andWelland Tribune,all acquired papers will be closed.[14][15]

On June 26, 2018,Canadian Pressreported that, by the end of August, Postmedia will be closing theCamrose CanadianinCamrose, Alberta,Strathmore StandardinStrathmore, Alberta,Kapuskasing Northern TimesinKapuskasing, Ontario,Ingersoll TimesinIngersoll, Ontario,Norwich GazetteinNorwich, OntarioandPetrolia TopicinPetrolia, Ontario.It will also cease printing thePortage Daily GraphicinPortage La Prairie, Manitoba,theNorthern NewsinKirkland Lake, Ontario,andPembroke Daily ObserverinPembroke, Ontariowhile maintaining a digital presence for the three publications. As well, theHigh River TimesinHigh River, Albertawill go from being published twice a week to once a week.[16]

During theCOVID-19 pandemic,Postmedia laid off approximately 80 employees and permanently closed 15 community publications while navigating the financial strain of COVID-19. While the company utilized government subsidies, they claim they were unable to offset the decline in revenue.[17]

Postmedia closed 15 community newspapers in Manitoba and Ontario’s Windsor-Essex area as the publications were no longer financially sustainable.[17]The publications included Manitoba’s Altona Red River Valley Echo, Carman Valley Leader, Gimli Intertake Spectator, Morden Times, Selkirk Journal, Stonewall Argus & Teulon Times, Winkler Times, and The Prairie Farmer, leaving Portage La Prairie as the company’s community presence in the province.[17]For Ontario, the closures included the Kingsville Reporter, Lakeshore News (Windsor-Essex area), LaSalle Post, Napanee Guide, Paris Star, Tecumseh Shoreline Week, and Tilbury Times.[17]

On February 17, 2022, Postmedia announced a definitive agreement to acquireBrunswick News Inc.(BNI). As well as several New Brunswick daily and weekly newspapers and "digital properties", BNI's assets included a parcel delivery business and "proprietary distribution software".[18]

In 2023, Postmedia announced it would be moving a dozen of its Alberta community papers to digital-only platforms, aiming for more outsourcing deals and laying off employees. The announcement was made January 18, 2023, during an internal memo to staff that was obtained byThe Canadian Press,describing the measures as a part of a "transformation plan geared toward managing costs". Later that day, Postmedia said it had also sold theCalgary Heraldbuilding for $17.23 million to U-Haul Co. after trying to sell it for nearly a decade.[19]

In July 2023, Postmedia Network Canada Corp. and Nordstar Capital LP announced that merger discussion between the two newspaper publishers will not continue.[20]

On May 27, 2024, Postmedia announced that it would sell theWinnipeg Sun,thePortage la PrairieGraphic Leader,Kenora Miner and News,and company's Winnipeg printing operations to politician and formerSunpublisherKevin Klein.[21][22]

Operating branch

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Postmedia News is the news branch of Postmedia Network, providing similar content to all of its subsidiary news outlets and websites. It is identified as a source on all of its subsidiary newspapers.[23]The news agency provides news, sports, entertainment, photography, financial and feature information and data to Postmedia Network's Canadian newspapers, online properties and a number of third party clients in Canada and the United States.[citation needed]

Criticism

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Ties to right wing politics

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In October 2018, it was reported that CEO Andrew MacLeod had declared the company "insufficientlyconservative".That resulted in Kevin Libin, who had played an active role in defeating a union drive at the paper earlier that year,[24]taking charge of all political reporting and analysis in Postmedia newspapers to ensure the newspapers became more "reliably conservative."[25][26]In June 2019, Kevin Libin, comments editor and editorials editor of theNational PostandFinancial Postand a founding editor ofWestern Standard,was assigned “executive editor of Postmedia politics".[4]The role focuses on the coverage of federal politics in theNational Post.In addition, it focuses on the coverage of federal and provincial politics in all of the dailies owned by Postmedia.[26]

In November 2019, Postmedia announced that 66% of its shares were now owned byChatham Asset Management,an American media conglomerate which ownsAmerican Media, Inc.and is known for its close ties to the Republican party.[27][28]

Centralization and lack of localization

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The creation of the Postmedia Network effectively concentrates more than 90 percent of all Canadian dailies and weeklies in one company, a fact lamented by J-Source, a Canadian media watchdog, in a 2015 online article.[29]

Margo Goodhand,a formerEdmonton Journaleditor-in-chief,wrote in a 2016Walrusarticle that Postmedia executives were behind the outsourcing of Postmedia content to a site within an office in Canada for the sake of producing “Regina Leader-Postsports pages, Arts fronts for theMontreal Gazette,editorial pages for theVancouver Sun”.[26][30]In a 2020 article by The New York Times, it was reported journalists had attested that sinceChatham Asset Managementtook over, Postmedia had centralized operations and cut staff so that its 106 newspapers were essentially clones of one another.[31]

Relationship with the government

[edit]

On November 27, 2018, TheCompetition Bureauapplied for a court evaluation contesting Postmedia's claims of solicitor-client privilege, for records seized by the bureau during raids at the company's offices.[32]In March 2018, theCompetition Bureauissued a court filing accusing Postmedia andTorstarof structuring the deal they made together withno-compete clausesin an effort to reduce competition in the newspaper industry in violation of theCompetition Act.[33][34]

According to Marc Edge, author ofThe Postmedia Effect,the network received $9.9 million in government financial assistance in 2022. In the same year, Postmedia's operating income was only $13 million.[35]

Treatment of staff

[edit]

In 2016, Paul Godfrey took a $900,000 bonus during a time when Postmedia laid off staff company-wide.[36]CFO Doug Lamb received $450,000, COO Andrew MecLeod $425,000, legal and general counsel Jeffrey Harr $300,000, and National Post president Gordon Fisher $200,000. Unions representing Canadian journalists wanted the Postmedia executives to reject the total $2,275,000 as the newspaper chain continued to cut staff.[37]

Assets

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Advertising

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  • The Flyer Force
  • Go!Local

Publishing

[edit]

Broadsheetdailies and weeklies

[edit]

Tabloiddailies

[edit]

Communitynewspapers

[edit]

Postmedia owns newspapers that serve smaller communities across Canada, including:

Former assets

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Magazines

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  • Financial Post Business
  • Living Windsor
  • Muskoka Magazine
  • Kingston Life Magazine
  • Interiors Magazine
  • Backpack Magazine
  • Cannabis Post
  • Muskoka Visitor Guide
  • Ontario Farmer Magazines(Hog, Beef, Dairy)
  • Swerve
  • TVtimes

Online

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  • Canada.com
  • Infomart.com
  • Canoe.com
  • celebrating.com
  • connecting.com
  • driving.ca
  • househunting.ca
  • remembering.ca
  • shoplocal.ca
  • SwarmJam.com

In addition, Postmedia Network owns all websites associated with all properties listed on this page either wholly or in partnership.

Software

[edit]

See also

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Other media groups in Canada include:

[edit]

References

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  1. ^"Postmedia Reports Fourth Quarter Results".Postmedia Network Canada Corp. October 21, 2022.Archivedfrom the original on October 26, 2022.RetrievedJuly 16,2023.section 14
  2. ^2021 Annual Information Form(PDF),Postmedia Network Canada Corp., 2021,archived(PDF)from the original on May 23, 2022,retrievedJanuary 3,2022
  3. ^"Federal Corporation Information".Corporations Canada.Archivedfrom the original on August 11, 2020.RetrievedMay 28,2020.
  4. ^abCraig, Sean (August 12, 2019)."You Must Be This Conservative To Ride: The Inside Story of Postmedia's Right Turn".CANADALAND.Archivedfrom the original on December 16, 2019.RetrievedAugust 12,2019.
  5. ^"Contact Us | Postmedia".postmedia.com.Archivedfrom the original on September 29, 2022.RetrievedOctober 26,2022.
  6. ^ab"Postmedia revamps Ottawa Citizen's digital service"ArchivedJuly 8, 2022, at theWayback Machine.CBC News,May 20, 2014.
  7. ^"Postmedia Fiscal 2020 Q1 financial report"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on November 24, 2021.RetrievedFebruary 16,2020.on page 15 under 'Related Party Transactions'
  8. ^abcdOlive, David (January 23, 2015)."Postmedia and the heavy price it pays to survive: Olive".Toronto Star.Archivedfrom the original on July 8, 2022.RetrievedFebruary 22,2016.
  9. ^abcdFlavelle, Dana (October 6, 2014)."Postmedia buys 175-paper Sun Media for $316 million".Toronto Star.RetrievedMay 27,2024.
  10. ^Competition Bureau will not challenge Postmedia’s acquisition of Sun MediaArchivedSeptember 23, 2015, at theWayback Machine.Competition Bureau,March 25, 2015.
  11. ^"Postmedia purchase of Quebecor's Sun Media OK'd by Competition Bureau".CBC News.Archivedfrom the original on August 15, 2020.RetrievedMarch 25,2015.
  12. ^Bradshaw, James (April 13, 2015)."Postmedia-Sun Media deal officially closes".The Globe and Mail.Archivedfrom the original on March 27, 2017.RetrievedSeptember 8,2017.
  13. ^"Five things to know with Canada's news media industry under public policy review".CityNews Toronto.June 21, 2016.Archivedfrom the original on December 22, 2017.RetrievedDecember 21,2017.
  14. ^"Postmedia to close community newspapers in Stratford, London, St. Thomas".CBC News.November 27, 2017.Archivedfrom the original on November 28, 2017.RetrievedNovember 27,2017.
  15. ^Krashinsky Robertson, Susan (November 27, 2017)."Torstar, Postmedia swap community papers, most to close".The Globe and Mail.Archivedfrom the original on November 27, 2017.RetrievedNovember 27,2017.
  16. ^Healing, Dan (June 26, 2018)."Postmedia to close more local newspapers, cut staff by 10 per cent".Ottawa Citizen.Canadian Press.Archivedfrom the original on June 26, 2018.RetrievedJune 26,2018.
  17. ^abcdSagan, Aleksandra (April 28, 2020)."Postmedia to lay off 80, permanently close 15 newspapers amid coronavirus fallout".Toronto CityNews.Archivedfrom the original on January 11, 2023.RetrievedJanuary 11,2023.
  18. ^"Postmedia to Acquire Brunswick News Inc. and Extend Maturity of its First and Second Lien Notes".Postmedia.February 17, 2022.Archivedfrom the original on February 18, 2022.RetrievedFebruary 18,2022.
  19. ^Deschamps, Tara (January 18, 2023)."Postmedia announces plan to move 12 Alberta papers to digital-only, layoff staff".Toronto Star.Archivedfrom the original on January 18, 2023.RetrievedJanuary 19,2023.
  20. ^Evans, Pete (July 10, 2023)."Merger talks between Postmedia and Toronto Star owner fall apart".CBC News.Archivedfrom the original on August 6, 2023.RetrievedAugust 6,2023.
  21. ^"Postmedia selling the Winnipeg Sun, the Graphic Leader, and Kenora Miner & News".CTV News Winnipeg.May 27, 2024.RetrievedMay 27,2024.
  22. ^Froese, Ian (May 27, 2024)."Former PC cabinet minister Kevin Klein buying Winnipeg Sun from Postmedia".CBC News.RetrievedMay 27,2024.
  23. ^"Postmedia News | National Post".National Post.Archivedfrom the original on May 9, 2024.RetrievedOctober 24,2020.
  24. ^Yelland, Tannara (June 6, 2018)."How Postmedia Defeated A Union Drive At The National Post".CANADALAND.Archivedfrom the original on October 24, 2020.RetrievedOctober 23,2020.
  25. ^"Postmedia's employees should stand up to their right-wing bosses".National Observer.August 27, 2019.Archivedfrom the original on November 7, 2020.RetrievedOctober 23,2020.
  26. ^abcSubramanian, Sarmishta (August 6, 2019)."The new worry about the next election: your daily news".Maclean’s Magazine.Archivedfrom the original on December 17, 2019.RetrievedJanuary 1,2020.
  27. ^"Postmedia Fiscal 2020 Q1 financial report"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on November 24, 2021.RetrievedFebruary 16,2020.section 14
  28. ^"Behind Trump Tabloid King, a Connected and Flush Hedge Fund".Bloomberg.August 30, 2018.Archivedfrom the original on December 20, 2019.RetrievedFebruary 15,2020.
  29. ^Baluja, Tamara (November 29, 2013)."Diversity of Media Ownership Literally Non-existent in Canada".J-Source.Archivedfrom the original on July 8, 2022.RetrievedAugust 16,2019.
  30. ^Goodh, Margo (February 4, 2016)."Above the Fold".The Walrus.Archivedfrom the original on January 1, 2020.RetrievedJanuary 1,2020.
  31. ^Lee, Edmund (July 16, 2020)."Under Hedge Fund Set to Own McClatchy, Canadian Newspapers Endured Big Cuts".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on April 18, 2022.RetrievedMay 1,2022.
  32. ^Carney, Bryan (February 5, 2019)."Torstar (Again) Blocks Release of Evidence in Conspiracy Case".The Tyee.Archivedfrom the original on March 6, 2019.RetrievedMarch 4,2019.
  33. ^Jackson, Emily (March 22, 2018)."Competition Bureau's concerns over Postmedia-Torstar newspaper swap revealed in court filing".Financial Post.Archivedfrom the original on April 6, 2018.RetrievedApril 6,2018.
  34. ^Milstead, David (March 22, 2018)."Torstar, Postmedia and the arrogance of the deal".The Globe and Mail.Archivedfrom the original on April 5, 2018.RetrievedApril 6,2018.
  35. ^Edge, March (June 13, 2023)."Postmedia is in a crash dive – Ottawa should let it decline".The Globe and Mail.Archivedfrom the original on June 14, 2023.RetrievedJune 15,2023.
  36. ^Bradshaw, James (November 23, 2016)."Postmedia executives receive $2.3-million in retention bonuses".The Globe and Mail.Archivedfrom the original on July 8, 2022.RetrievedAugust 16,2019.
  37. ^Woodhouse, Kristin (November 24, 2016)."Unions demand Postmedia executives reject $2.3 million in bonuses".vancouver.citynews.ca.Archivedfrom the original on January 18, 2023.RetrievedJanuary 18,2023.
  38. ^abcdeTelecom; Media (November 27, 2017)."'The alarm bells should go off:' Postmedia, Torstar deal will see 36 community papers closed - Financial Post ".Archivedfrom the original on March 24, 2019.RetrievedMarch 23,2019.
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