News about news
Le Devoir a aujourd'hui 110 ans! Pour l'occasion, la Une de notre édition papier du jour reprend la maquette de l'époque. Bonne lecture ! @jeanhuguesroy @edmUQAM @FPJQ @AJIQ pic.twitter.com/SHAjA2MhNR
— Alexandre Shields (@AShields_Devoir) January 10, 2020
- Le Droit is moving across the river from Ottawa to Gatineau to qualify for Quebec’s print media assistance measures. But the paper insists it remains franco-Ontarian at heart. To prove it, the newspaper has appointed its first Queen’s Park reporter in 30 years. Émilie Pelletier will cover the Ontario legislature for the newspaper, as the only francophone outside of Radio-Canada and TFO to do so.
- Les Affaires is dropping its print schedule to 14 times a year, and adding new contributors.
- La Presse gave some insight into its finances, saying it got $3 million in donations in 2019, well short of its $5 million goal. But through severe cuts in expenses, it has gotten its deficit down to a projected $2.6 million in 2020, and hopes to achieve a balanced budget in 2021. It’s working on an endowment with some big-money donations, and will implement new measures like playing a 30-second video ad when people open La Presse+ (a feature that people who donate will be able to turn off).
- Postmedia News is hiring journalists with the funding it’s getting from the Canadian government’s Local Journalism Initiative. The full-time 15-month positions include one in the National Assembly in Quebec City, reporting on the Quebec government and its impact on the anglophone community (and joining Gazette bureau chief Philip Authier). The deadline to apply is Feb. 10.
- The Toronto Star is also using the LJI to hire a journalist specializing in Indigenous issues.
- The Montreal Newspaper Guild, which represents unionized workers in the newsroom, advertising and other departments at the Montreal Gazette (including yours truly), voted overwhelmingly on Jan. 12 to ratify a new four-year collective agreement. The deal has a wage freeze, but maintains most benefits that the employer wanted to cut.
- The Globe and Mail is ending its Report on Business Cannabis Professional standalone publication.
- The Professional Writers Association of Canada and freelance branch of the Canadian Media Guild are merging to form a new union for Canadian freelance writers, called the Canadian Freelance Guild.
- CBC’s The National is dropping its four-anchor format. Instead, Ian Hanomansing will host Fridays and Sundays and Rosemary Barton will become chief political correspondent. Andrew Chang and Adrienne Arsenault will co-anchor the Monday to Thursday editions.
- The Quebec Press Council is changing the structure of its complaints committees, no longer giving members of the public a majority on them. Instead, they will have equal say as journalists and newsroom managers, with the chair still a member of the public and with the ability to break a tie. The change is due to recent issues where news organizations had lost confidence in the council. The council is looking for an employee to help manage complaints.
- Le Devoir talks to local media, including La Presse and Postmedia, about their anti-ad-blocking messages.
- The Toronto Star is adopting standardized labelling language for sponsored and advertiser-supported content.
- The National Observer‘s newsroom is now unionized, after the Canada Industrial Relations Board accepted their certification.
- Infoman talks to the people behind Le Revoir, the Quebec news parody website.
- Science journalist Sarah Everts offers some tips for journalists covering the coronavirus outbreak.
- Selena Ross writes for the Guardian about Canadian media giving Harry and Meghan their privacy.
- Warren Buffett is selling his newspaper business, which means we definitely don’t have a future now.
- The Washington Post is undergoing a bit of turmoil because of its decision to suspend a reporter for tweeting about Kobe Bryant’s sexual assault case shortly after his death. The decision prompted a revolt in the newsroom and she was reinstated after a review found her tweets did not violate policy.
