Canada's Postmedia to cut jobs, merge Ottawa, other newsrooms

TORONTO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Canadian newspapers owned by
Postmedia Network Canada Corp PNCa.TO have cut 90 journalists
or about 8 percent of its editorial workforce, the publisher
said on Tuesday, as it merged tabloid and broadsheet newsrooms
in four major cities.
The publisher of the National Post, Toronto Sun and other
major Canadian newspapers said last week that it was aiming to
wring C$30 million ($20.60 million) more in annual cost savings.

Postmedia bought the Sun tabloid newspaper chain from
Quebecor Inc QBRb.TO in a deal that closed in April last year
and gave it control of most of the major English-language
dailies in Canada.
Postmedia said the cuts would be effective immediately for
35 jobs in Edmonton, 25 in Calgary and 12 in Ottawa.
As part of a related change in sports coverage, five jobs
were eliminated from the National Post based in Toronto, as well
as one in Windsor and one in Saskatoon.
The company also said furthers reductions of as many as 50
positions could be achieved via voluntary buyouts offered in
Vancouver and Ottawa starting in coming days.
"This is certainly an initiative aimed at cost reduction,"
said company spokeswoman Phyllise Gelfand. "The rapidly shifting
revenue climate has required that we change the cost structure
that was built for a different revenue model."
Under the unified newsroom model, reporters who previously
wrote for either the Ottawa Sun or the Ottawa Citizen, for
example, will be expected to work with an editing desk to create
copy for both styles, Gelfand said.
At the time of the Sun purchase, Postmedia said it planned
to operate the major Sun dailies and their websites side by side
with its existing publications in markets with multiple brands
as it has in Vancouver for more than 30 years with the Province
and the Vancouver Sun.
($1 = 1.4561 Canadian dollars)