Via Yahoo.news: Canadian communications giant Quebecor, Inc. has announced plans to bring its Ontario-based media divisions under a single roof.
In order to streamline operations and boost revenue, Quebecor will consolidate the tabloid Toronto Sun, the free daily newspaper 24 Hours, Sun TV and Internet portal canoe.ca. The consolidation, set to cost the company $110 million, will also result in the loss of 120 jobs.
Quebecor Inc. CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau said he hopes for the same success in Ontario that Quebecor has had in Montreal, where the company also converged its media properties.
Luc Lavoie, Quebecor’s executive vice-president of corporate affairs, said he envisions a central news desk that will employ its personnel “in all four pillars of the operation.”
Lavoie’s vision includes Sun columnists producing blogs and appearing on Sun TV in debate-type shows like CNN’s Crossfire, according to Yahoo News.
“‘People under 40 don’t look for news in the same way people of my age, in their 50s, do or used to,'” Lavoie said. “‘They go to the Internet, they go to the TV . . . You have to catch them where they are.'”
Ryerson University journalism program chair Paul Knox was skeptical about the convergence model, stating that it has yielded mixed results in both Canada and the U.S.
Knox added that writing a print article requires different skills than writing a script for broadcast.
“‘It all depends how much they are willing to invest in human resources and skills in the talent that you would need to pull this off,'” Knox said.
