After TVA, it’s Radio-Canada’s turn to bring out the ax. Three weeks before Christmas, employees learned that budget cuts of $125 million will result in the elimination of 800 positions in the French and English services of the public broadcaster.
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The sad news was announced to employees by President and CEO Catherine Tait during two virtual meetings held Monday afternoon.
It’s “a dark day for Radio-Canada,” reacted the Union of Radio-Canada Workers (STTRC-CSN).
Of the 800 jobs targeted, 200 are vacant positions which are eliminated. In addition, 250 people will lose their jobs at Radio-Canada, 250 at CBC and the other positions will be eliminated in other institutional services.
The decline in advertising revenues and fierce competition from web giants are hitting the state-owned company hard, according to senior management.
Into nothingness
According to the president of the union, Pierre Tousignant, no one was surprised by the cuts given the 547 jobs recently lost at TVA and the departures at Bell Media and in Les coops de l’information, but “800 is over beyond what everyone feared. »
Employees are in limbo, he adds, since no one knows which jobs will be eliminated or where. “We have no idea. »
Sources told us of a certain unease that the French-speaking and English-speaking sectors would be called upon to eliminate positions in equal proportions.
“If we are better in terms of audience ratings or internal production, it’s sure frustrating,” says Newspaper a Radio-Canada employee who has worked there for several years and who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals from his employer.
Who’s telling the truth?
Furthermore, Pierre Tousignant deplores that CBC/Radio-Canada is using the 3.3% cut that Ottawa intends to impose on all ministries and state corporations to justify its cuts while the Minister of Heritage, Pascale St- Onge, says no decision has been made about the public broadcaster.
This sum represents an amount estimated between 30 and 35 million dollars of the annual budget of CBC/Radio-Canada, he estimates.
“Who is wrong? », protests Pierre Tousignant, who intends to press on senior management for an answer.
Drop the ad?
According to the union, Radio-Canada will have to reassess its priorities, an observation shared by Jean-Hugues Roy, professor at the School of Media at the University of Quebec in Montreal.
“If advertising revenues are so meager, what’s the point of spending the energy to go and find them? Let’s leave that to others who need it a lot more. A branch like Tandem, which produces sponsored content, has no place,” believes Mr. Roy.
At the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec, where we can only see to what extent the media industry is being mistreated, we are not deluding ourselves.
“I don’t think we’ve reached the bottom of the barrel. Unfortunately, during the year 2024, we risk having more bad news. Income is less and less there and money does not grow on trees,” says its president Éric-Pierre Champagne.
With the collaboration of Jean-Philippe Guilbault