The Ottawa Citizen has shut down its in-person newsroom. .“What was once the epicentre of Ottawa news coverage is now an empty shell,” said the Bulldog Founder Ken Gray in a blog post. .The blog post said the Ottawa Citizen’s presses and the employees who man them remain in the building. However, the newsroom will now be people spread around the city, with many of them in their homes. .There are 26 employees left in the newsroom. This is a far cry from the hundreds of people it took two decades ago to put the Ottawa Citizen together. .Gray called the Ottawa Citizen “a newspaper with national aspirations that never achieved them.” He said it was not the first place people on Parliament Hill turned to for news. .Had it realized its target audience was average Ottawa residents and focused on local news, the blog post said it might have experienced better long-term success. It would have captured the hearts of its readers rather than trying to be a newspaper people did not want. .The blog post continued by saying it had a shot at being a national newspaper when powerful people had a choice of adapting it to a national stage or creating the National Post. These people opted for the National Post. .At this point, it said it should have gone mega-local, but it strived to continue to serve capital and local Ottawa. This led to it serving no one. .Gray said it has become “a buggy-whip manufacturer after autos took over the highways.”.The blog post concluded by saying the newsroom floor space is being converted into a roller skating rink. It said no items remain except memories, but those will disappear over time. .“When the Citizen stops publishing, it will be with a whimper rather than a bang,” said Gray. .“It didn’t care enough about its city and now the city doesn’t care about it.”.Postmedia Network announced in January it will be cutting 11% of its editorial staff to respond to financial problems — despite receiving massive government bailout cash..READ MORE: Postmedia to eliminate 11% of editorial jobs.“All properties will be affected by layoffs or restructuring,” said Postmedia Acting Senior Vice-President Gerry Nott. .Postmedia, which owns publications such as the Calgary Sun and Herald, the Edmonton Sun and Journal and the Ottawa Sun and Citizen, has about 650 staffers — with an 11% chop meaning about 70 people will lose their jobs.
