After reviewing their national broadcast and online teams, Global News will be making "significant" cuts to them, according to an internal company memo obtained by the Western Standard.The axe fell on Global News on Wednesday with cuts across the country.In a tape recording of an address to Alberta staff obtained by the Western Standard, employees were told the cuts involved multiple stations, bureaus and Global National."We also reviewed our national online and broadcast teams along with its leadership structure, introducing significant changes in personnel and accountabilities," said a separate internal memo obtained by the Western Standard, written to staff from Ward Smith, a Global News senior vice president."We are now a smaller team with both union, non-union and management roles lost in several markets."We are working with the union through these changes and affected employees have a chance to exercise their rights as per their collective agreements."In Alberta, Edmonton staff will handle weekend morning news shows while Calgary will handle the weekend evening shows. Calgary will also produce the Lethbridge weekend shows."All these decisions are designed to prepare our news division for more economic pressure, as the industry continues to evolve, as larger international tech giants offer content and advertising platforms directly to Canadians, and monopolize the Canadian advertising landscape," said the memo from Smith."These changes are not easy, and these last two years have been especially difficult. Unfortunately, we are joined by others in this industry who share similar struggles. I want to note that we have been several steps ahead of our competitors in adopting new technologies producing and distributing content.""Others are now following our lead with copycat streaming news services."Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment, has 15 local newsrooms across the country.Corus shares on Tuesday were trading at .28 cents, a drop of 95% in the last five years.
After reviewing their national broadcast and online teams, Global News will be making "significant" cuts to them, according to an internal company memo obtained by the Western Standard.The axe fell on Global News on Wednesday with cuts across the country.In a tape recording of an address to Alberta staff obtained by the Western Standard, employees were told the cuts involved multiple stations, bureaus and Global National."We also reviewed our national online and broadcast teams along with its leadership structure, introducing significant changes in personnel and accountabilities," said a separate internal memo obtained by the Western Standard, written to staff from Ward Smith, a Global News senior vice president."We are now a smaller team with both union, non-union and management roles lost in several markets."We are working with the union through these changes and affected employees have a chance to exercise their rights as per their collective agreements."In Alberta, Edmonton staff will handle weekend morning news shows while Calgary will handle the weekend evening shows. Calgary will also produce the Lethbridge weekend shows."All these decisions are designed to prepare our news division for more economic pressure, as the industry continues to evolve, as larger international tech giants offer content and advertising platforms directly to Canadians, and monopolize the Canadian advertising landscape," said the memo from Smith."These changes are not easy, and these last two years have been especially difficult. Unfortunately, we are joined by others in this industry who share similar struggles. I want to note that we have been several steps ahead of our competitors in adopting new technologies producing and distributing content.""Others are now following our lead with copycat streaming news services."Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment, has 15 local newsrooms across the country.Corus shares on Tuesday were trading at .28 cents, a drop of 95% in the last five years.