More Job Losses in Media Industry

Privately held television broadcaster and Canwest rival CTV Inc cut 105 jobs in November. Torstar Corp cut 270 jobs across its stable of urban and regional newspapers in the first nine months of the year.

"The speed at which the current economic environment is deteriorating forces us to make difficult decisions at this time of the year," Quebecor Chief Executive Pierre Karl Peladeau said in a statement.

"The news industry is being revolutionized and we have to adapt if we want to remain an industry leader."

Sun Media has 43 paid-circulation and free dailies in Canada's biggest urban markets and more than 200 community newspapers, shopping guides and other specialty publications.

It said that aside from the faltering economy and rising costs, fundamental changes within the newspaper industry made the cuts necessary. These include the growing availability of free access to media, readers' migration to the Internet, as well as "the advent of real-time information and digital transferability," it said.

"We all know that advertising revenue is declining, so some of this is understandable," said Peter Murdoch, media vice-president at the Communications, Energy & Paperworkers Union, Canada's largest media union.

However, he said that since the layoffs are hitting almost all major Canadian media outlets, "we are seeing an erosion of the news and information coming to Canadians".

Murdoch said media companies have yet to figure out a consistent, profitable way to use the Internet to make money from the content that they produce.