In another blow for government-funded legacy media, Toronto Star publisher Nordstar Capital LP put its Metroland weekly newspaper group into bankruptcy and fired 605 workers — 60% of its workforce — without severance..In addition, it shuttered its flyer distribution network and will convert 70 publications into online versions. It will continue to publish print versions of six regional dailies including: the Hamilton Spectator; Peterborough Examiner; St. Catharines Standard; Niagara Falls Review; Welland Tribune; and the Waterloo Region Record..The Star is not covered under the restructuring..Metroland said the decision was the inevitable result of “unsustainable” financial losses stemming from the changing preferences of readers and advertisers in the face of an assault from online media..In a statement, it blamed “tech giants” such as Meta for blocking Canadian news content and sucking up mainstream revenue streams.."The media industry continues to face existential challenges, largely because digital tech giants have used their dominant positions to take the vast majority of the advertising revenue in Canada," the company said in a statement.."The decline of the print and flyer distribution business was significantly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and by the reduction of flyer usage both by readers and advertisers as a marketing vehicle.".This comes after the failure of merger talks earlier this year between NordStar and Postmedia. The two companies called off talks regarding a possible marriage that would have seen Postmedia and Metroland Media Group combine forces while the Star would have been spun into a new company..Mainstream media outlets have been under pressure for years as online giants such as Google and Facebook owner Meta sucked up advertising dollars and readers. .This summer Ottawa passed the Online News Act, in a bid to force digital giants to pay media outlets for content they share or repurpose on their platforms, which they have thus far refused to do. .In addition it has extended a $595 million bailout fund — over and above the $1 billion a year it grants the CBC — ostensibly to preserve the independence of Canadian journalism. .Instead it’s led to criticism from those, including The Western Standard publisher Derek Fildebrandt, that it is actually engendering a de facto state-controlled legacy media arm of the present Liberal government..Even though it’s eligible for the bailout funds, The Western Standard does not receive any government money.
