The Information Coops, whose newspapers are located in major centers outside the mainland, say they are concerned by the desire of a big player like The Press to be more present on their “field”. The Montreal daily, however, counters that it can coexist with the written media there, given that their “mandates and models are both different and complementary.”
Last Saturday, the president of The Press, Pierre-Elliott Levasseur, maintained that his newspaper wanted to “improve” its coverage of issues in major cities outside of Montreal. They “are the heart of the regions of Quebec,” he said, in an article providing the organization’s annual report.
This intention, however, raised eyebrows at the Information Coops, which brings together The right in Ottawa-Gatineau, The Nouvelliste in Trois-Rivières, The Daily in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, The Sun in Quebec, The gallery in Sherbrooke and The Voice of the East in Granby. “We are in this field daily and we know the smallness of these advertising markets. [Le fait] to welcome more The Presswe know that it will weaken our advertising revenue and readership,” laments the general director, Geneviève Rossier, in an interview with Duty. She also sent a message to her employees on Wednesday on this subject.
However, unlike the Information Coops whose subscription is paid, the Montreal daily offers a different model which is “based on free content,” says Florence Turpault-Desroches, vice-president of communications and philanthropy. of The Press. “We believe that there is an appetite in Quebec for quality information, including among those who cannot afford to pay for a subscription. »
The daily’s desire to offer “better coverage” of issues outside of Montreal does not “call into question the solidity and anchoring of the players present”, continues Mme Turpault-Desroches. “Our organizations can coexist with mandates and models that are both different and complementary. »
Avoiding a “trade war”
For his part, Mme Rossier would like to meet the leaders of The Press. She says she wants to find a way to prevent the two media from engaging in a “commercial war” in the regions of Quebec.
Starting such a conflict would be “irresponsible,” according to her, given that the written press in Quebec is subsidized by provincial and federal tax credits. “We would take public money to compete with other people who are also financed by public money,” she argues.
Geneviève Rossier claims to take note of Saturday’s announcement, without however acting rashly. There is therefore no question of immediately terminating its agreements with the Montreal daily newspaper. These currently allow Information Coops to share a certain amount of content from The Press on its platforms and vice versa.
Despite his concerns, Mme Rossier is keen to say that she is not, however, “allergic to competition”. She gives the example of the Capitale-Nationale region, where The sun is measured against a strong competitor, i.e. The Journal de Québec.
It remains that the six newspapers which form Les Coops de l’information have a “fragility that a daily like The Press doesn’t have,” she says. At the end of 2019, they became cooperatives after the bankruptcy of Groupe Capitales Médias, the company that owned them.