“There was simply no future for us.” President and CEO Andrew Mulé has spent the last few months trying to find a solution to save the company, which includes Journal Métro and 16 local weeklies, to no avail. Its 70 employees, including around thirty journalists, learned on Sunday that their layoff would be “permanent”.
Remember that Métro Média announced, on August 12, the immediate suspension of its activities. Since then, Mr. Mulé remained hopeful of finding new donors. However, he confirmed on X on Sunday that “the decision to proceed with the voluntary transfer of Métro Média’s assets has been ratified”. The company will go into bankruptcy next week.
Today turns an important page in the history of the media in Quebec.
The Journal Métro as you knew it no longer exists. The decision to proceed with the voluntary transfer of Métro Média’s assets has been ratified.
So it’s the end of an era, a sad one…
— Andrew Mulé (@AndrMule) September 17, 2023
In interview at Duty, the president and director deplores “a great loss for democracy and local journalism”. “We will have to have a constructive debate on the future of local media. The industry is doing very badly. […] Giving the media the means to do their job is a societal choice. »
More details will follow.
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