Corus cutting 80 news jobs, many in ‘traditional TV production’

Corus Entertainment Inc. has confirmed it is eliminating close “to 80 positions across the country” in its news business, though the company also said it would add 50 digital news jobs. Many of the jobs cut are “tied to traditional TV production,” Corus said, according to an article in its Global News outlet Thursday. It said that affected employees who qualify will have the chance “to apply for new jobs in the growth area of digital news.” The company will create about 50 new positions, it said, many of which will be located in underserved areas, and will see reporters filing stories for new, local versions of the the Global News website in Ottawa, Kitchener, Guelph and Barrie, Ont. “With digital platforms, our audience no longer is tied to just the locations where we have TV and radio licences, so we will be adding journalists to cover local news in markets where we see opportunity created by the recent closure or consolidation of local newspapers,” said Troy Reeb, senior vice-president of Global News and Corus Radio, in the article. The changes don’t mean Global will be producing “less content or fewer hours of television news,” the article added. The company also said the move wasn’t related to a drop in stock prices caused by TV ad revenue that fell below expectations. The publication of the article followed a press release by media union Unifor stating that Corus is cutting 70 jobs at Global News. “Camera operators, reporters, anchors, control room staff, make-up artists and other production crew received layoff notices in newsrooms across Canada, with Global's most successful station in Vancouver taking the biggest hit with 21 job cuts,” Unifor said in Thursday’s release. The Unifor release added that evening newscasts in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick will be anchored and produced from Toronto, starting Monday. Unifor said the CRTC shares the blame for the cuts after a licence renewal decision last year, after the regulator “softened requirements that they maintain historical levels of programming, and decided not to set rules requiring ‘feet on the street’ coverage, leaving media companies free to cut local news jobs over the term of their five-year broadcasting licenses.” The union also pointed to those licence conditions when BCE Inc.’s media division announced job cuts just last year. It said it wants the CRTC “to review local news and make strong local coverage a binding condition of license, before it's too late.

Corus cutting 80 news jobs, many in ‘traditional TV production’

Brief | February 16, 2018

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Corus cutting 80 news jobs, many in ‘traditional TV production’

Brief | February 16, 2018

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