Postmedia CEO says layoffs at SaltWire, Herald are necessary to stabilize papers

HALIFAX — Layoffs at Atlantic Canada’s largest newspaper chain are necessary because the properties were facing bankruptcy, according to the CEO of Postmedia Network Inc., who says his company’s purchase of the troubled assets prevented a “terrible tragedy and travesty” for the region.

In an interview Friday, days after the Toronto-based media company finalized its $1-million purchase of insolvent SaltWire Network Inc. and the Halifax Herald Ltd., Andrew MacLeod said he didn’t have specifics on how many people have so far lost their job. The situation is a “fluid process,” he said.

A day earlier, media union CWA Canada said more than 60 SaltWire staff had been laid off, while nearly 300 remained employed until their future is decided by Postmedia.

MacLeod said the status quo “wasn’t sustainable because (SaltWire) landed in a state of bankruptcy. Certainly there will be changes, but we are doing everything possible to preserve a full maximum number of newsroom jobs.” In March, SaltWire and the Herald were granted court-ordered protection from creditors who were owed more than $90 million.

The Halifax Herald Ltd. owned The Chronicle Herald, an independent daily newspaper that was founded almost 200 years ago. SaltWire was created in 2017 when the owners of the Herald bought more than two dozen newspapers and web-related properties owned by Quebec-based Transcontinental Inc. But creation of the regional newspaper chain proved to be unprofitable for the two companies, which were typically referred to as one entity: SaltWire.

The purpose of the newsroom cuts, MacLeod added, is to find efficiencies in the SaltWire operations that can provide a stable future for the newspapers, including the Cape Breton Post in Sydney, N.S., The Guardian in Charlottetown, and The Telegram in St. John’s, N.L.

Postmedia is committed to the local news coverage the newspapers provide, he said.

“Short of difficult changes to ensure a stable future, the likely outcome for this was that all the titles (newspapers) would be shut down and that would have been a terrible tragedy and travesty for Atlantic Canada.”

MacLeod said a noticeable change will be the dropping of the SaltWire name in order to re-emphasize the individual names of the newspapers, especially in online editions, because of their historic links to Atlantic communities. Currently, the newspapers share the “SaltWire” name online.

“From a digital perspective we believe it was a mistake to de-emphasize the local titles,” he said. “We believe the emotional, intellectual link from the community is to those individual titles … these are the brands that, in some cases, have had hundreds of years of residence in their local community.”

Print readers won’t see any “radical” change in the newspapers acquired by Postmedia, MacLeod said.

MacLeod said Postmedia’s business model is about creating scale in order to build its audience — something it also plans to do in Atlantic Canada. As for any future job cuts, he said he wouldn’t speculate.

“I think it’s difficult to be specific because we just took over,” MacLeod said.

Willy Palov, president of the Halifax Typographical Union at the Halifax Chronicle Herald, confirmed that three editors and one reporter at the paper had received layoffs that were effective immediately on Thursday.

“We have a lot of sympathy for the people let go because these are people that some of us have worked with for 30 or more years,” Palov said.

He said there would likely be other changes involving editorial staff, although details weren’t expected until early in October. He said the paper currently has 11 remaining newsroom employees.

“Unfortunately, our group is pretty hardened to these crises,” said Palov in reference to two significant rounds of layoffs that occurred prior to a nearly 19-month strike that began in January 2016.

“Our numbers keep dwindling but the flip side is we are still operating,” he said. “Postmedia stepped in after SaltWire ran us into the ground and we have a newsroom, we have a paper and we are going back to our brand as the Chronicle Herald.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 30, 2024.

Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press