After the management of Métro Média and the opposition parties in Quebec, it is the turn of the Syndicat montréalais de l’information (SMI-CSN) to sound the alarm about the future of the local press and that of its members, more threatened than ever with losing their jobs.
“Local newspapers are extremely important for the vitality of the social and democratic fabric of the city. We represent a reliable source of information close to the communities. Few journalists from the major media still go diligently to borough councils and are as close as we are to community actors in the neighborhoods, ”says Zoé Magalhaès, president of the SMI-CSN, which represents the newspaper’s journalists and information workers. Metro.
Faced with the urgency of the situation, the union is lining up behind its employer to call for more action from the public authorities, and quickly.
Monday, Métro Média, owner of the newspaper Metro and about twenty local newspapers on the island of Montreal, launched a final cry from the heart. The company fears having to draw a line under its local newspapers with the entry into force on May 17 of the municipal by-law restricting the general distribution of the Publisac. “It’s nearly 75 to 80% of our income that will suddenly disappear,” said the president and CEO, Andrew Mulé, in an interview with the Duty.
Unless there is rapid support from the City of Montreal, or from another level of government, Métro Média will have to cut half of the positions in its newsroom, he added with regret.
A situation that obviously worries the Montreal Information Union. “We have been in negotiations for several months for the renewal of our collective agreement. In addition to fighting for better working conditions, we must now face the threat of losing our jobs,” worries Zoé Magalhaès.
In all, Métro Média has about forty journalists, including about thirty in Montreal and ten in Quebec. Twenty people could therefore lose their jobs by May 17. “It is really urgent! “, insists the president of the union.
The City responds
Last fall, the City of Montreal had already announced one-time assistance of $2 million to support the local press in this transition towards the end of the Publisac, which represents $85,000 for each eligible newspaper.
In the wake of Métro Média’s public release on Monday, Mayor Valérie Plante’s office recalled that the City and the boroughs “will continue to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in local media through the purchase of advertising spaces […] in addition to broadcasting news in these channels”.
But according to the Plante administration, the end of the Publisac is not solely responsible for the difficulties of the local press, stressing that “all the written media in Quebec and elsewhere in the world are currently going through an important period of transition”.
Additional help from Quebec?
Questioned by a journalist from the newspaper Metro Wednesday, the three opposition parties in Quebec expressed their concern about the future of local media, recognizing that they are an “important component of democracy”.
They demanded that Quebec provide additional assistance to the local press to avoid massive cutbacks in newsrooms and the disappearance of a diversity of information sources.
The Liberals also questioned the Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, on the subject on Wednesday. He said he was “aware” of the current issues, but he stressed that his government “is already acting”. He notably recalled having extended by three years the aid to the media announced during the pandemic. However, he mentioned the possibility of “sitting down” with the press companies that need help.