Postmedia or Postmortem?: Canada Media Conglom's Layoffs, Cutbacks & Paywalls

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)Reacting to paltry ad revenues and an $11 million quarterly net loss, Postmedia, which owns 11 Canadian dailies and numerous community weeklies, will erect paywalls, publish less frequently, consolidate locations and lay off staff.

According to reports by Reuters and Canoe.ca, Postmedia, which was created in 2010 to acquire bankrupt CanWest's newspaper assets, will eliminate Sunday editions in Calgary, Ottawa and Edmonton, and for a fourth year running, suspend Monday publication of The National Post during the summer months.

Pink slips will continue to fly at Canada's largest newspaper chain. Postmedia cut loose 25 news wire staff this month and reportedly, The Montreal Gazette will trim its editorial personnel by 20. Additionally, plans are afoot to unload Postmedia's Toronto headquarters and to centralize copy editing at its metro dailies in Hamilton, Ontario.

Paywalls will be erected to combat foreign competition and generate income to offset advertising revenue losses.

Canadian Soccer Writer Can't Kick--Loses Column Because of Plagiarism

Image via WikipediaFifteen-year veteran Montreal Gazette soccer writer Paul Carbray lost his column this week after the daily's review of his writings over two months uncovered three instances of plagiarism, the Web site iMediaEthics.org reports.

The paper apologized to readers in a March 5 Editor's Note. Carbray's columnist page has been removed from the Gazette's Web site.

Restrictive Italian Law Prompts Wikipedia to Block Access to Site

Image via CrunchBaseProtesting a draft law that would require altering Website content within 48 hours without explanation based on a complaint of prejudice or bias, online encyclopedia Wikipedia has blocked access to its Italian version, the Montreal Gazette reported in an Agence France Presse wire story.

Beleaguered Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government endorsed the measure that mandates content change without verification, which Wikipedia attacked as "an unacceptable limitation" on its freedom. Intended to deter details about government-sanctioned wiretaps from appearing in the press, the draft law imposes a $14,000 fine and a one-month imprisonment on journalists who violate it, according to the Gazette article.

Wikipedia objects to the law's failure to provide for a third party who could judge whether the content at issue is damaging.

Montreal Gazette Erects Paywall for Online Edition

Image via WikipediaThe Montreal Gazette, which claims its online edition attracts a million unique North American visitors monthly, has announced that it is implementing a  metered payment system (or for those, like the "TUOL" staff who mastered high school French--paiement mesuree) similar to The New York Times.

Gazette online visitors will get 20 free views of premium content monthly before the paywall kicks in.  Non-subscribers to the print version of the paper will be asked to fork over $69.95 a year or $6.95 a month. Those who receive the paper edition receive free access after entering identifying information.  Hockeyinsideout.com and westislandgazette.com will not be subject to metering, because the Montreal Gazette knows better than to try to get in the way of online Canadian hockey fans looking for puck news gratis.

Montrealgazette.com boasts that it received 11 million page views last month. Whether online visitors are willing to part with their hard-earned Canadian Dollars remains to be seen.