Canada’s Sun Media to close 11 publications

Sun Media Corp, Canada's largest newspaper publisher and a subsidiary of media giant Quebecor Media Inc, is cutting 360 jobs and shutting down 11 publications, as part of its strategic overhaul amid falling print revenues and lower gains on the group's financial instruments.

The publications include 8 local journals across the country and 3 of its free urban dailies the 24 Hours in Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton.

The measures are expected to yield annual savings of approximately C$55 million, Quebecor said in a statement.

Sun Media's chief operating officer Julie Tremblay said, ''In recent years, the print media industry has been going through an unprecedented transformation such as it has never seen before.''

''The downsizing is necessary to maintain a strong positioning for our news media outlets on all platforms, and more broadly to secure our corporation's future success in an industry that is being revolutionised by the advent of digital,'' she added.

Like many other media companies, Sun Media is also focusing its investments in high-potential newspapers and publications across all platforms, print and digital as more and more people, particularly the new generation, is relying exclusively on digital sources such as computers, smartphones and tablets.

''Digital is more than a strong trend. We are working to meet the needs of all our readers and advertisers in this new environment,'' Trembley said.

Closing the three urban dailies is a result of the company's decision to keep a single urban newspaper in each market, except Montreal and Toronto.

The closing list of local titles include Quebec's L'Action Régionale in Montérégie Magazine, Le Magazine Saint-Lambert, Le Progrès de Bellechasse; Ontario's  The Lindsay Daily Post  and The Midland Free Press; Manitoba's The Lac du Bonnet Leader and The Beausejour Review and Saskatchewan's  The Meadow Lake Progress.

Toronto-based Sun Media Corporation, the publisher of Toronto Sun and Calgary Sun, is Canada's largest newspaper publisher, based on paid and free circulation, publishing over 15.1 million copies each week in English and French. It has 36 paid-circulation daily newspapers and 3 free dailies in 9 of the 10 largest urban markets in Canada, and almost 200 community newspapers and other publications.

Quebecor Inc, the holding company of Quebecor Media, reported a 50-per cent fall in its first quarter net profit at C$36 million due to decline in media revenue and significantly lower gains from its financial instruments. Overall, revenue fell 1 per cent to C$1.05 billion, while newspaper revenue plunged 11 per cent to C$208 million.

As part of its restructuring, Sun Media had cut 500 jobs in November to save costs.

Rival Torstar Corp, the publisher of Toronto Star also axed around 360 jobs since last year and said that it plans to do more job cuts.

Strongly criticising Sun Media's job cuts, CWA Canada, the union that represents workers at several of its newspapers, urged the company to reverse its self-destructive plan to cut hundreds of jobs, and to instead focus on quality local jobs and journalism to boost profits.

Commenting on Tremblay's mention that ''Sun Media will continue to focus on great journalism," CWA Canada director Martin O'Hanlon said: "I'm still waiting for someone to show me how you produce better journalism with fewer journalists. To suggest it's possible is either delusional or dishonest - neither bodes well for Sun Media's fortunes.''