Brunswick News’ English-language daily newspapers will appear in print just three days a week, starting March 7, according to a Postmedia announcement. Citing the logistical and economic challenges of print and changing reader consumption habits, the move was announced in a note to readers on the websites of the Saint John Telegraph-Journal, MonctonTimes & Transcript, and the Daily Gleaner in Fredericton. Print editions will be published Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with the note saying that Brunswick News “will continue to cover the news of our province seven days a week on our website.” Postmedia Network acquired Brunswick News from J. D. Irving in early 2022 for $7.5 million in cash, plus $8.6 million in Postmedia shares.
Overstory Media Group (OMG) has issued a formal statement following a round of staff reductions last week – the digital news startup’s second round of layoffs since early December. In the statement, CEO and co-founder Farhan Mohamed says based on revenue growth in 2022, the company scaled up its team. However, as macro-economic challenges slowed advertising and membership revenue, he says at a January board meeting, it was realized that at OMG’s current rate of losses, “we only had six months of cash left in the bank.” Mohamed says the recent staff reductions at Victoria’s Capital Daily – which included managing editor Jimmy Thomson, journalist and copy editor Jolene Rudisuela, and reporters Brishti Brasu and Shannon Waters – are not related to a parallel unionization drive that saw a majority of OMG employees sign union cards with CWA Canada.
Nunatsiaq News is celebrating 50 years. Launched in 1973 as the “Inukshuk” newsletter with a few hundred readers, it has grown into Nunavut and Nunavik’s newspaper of record with over two million web visits annually. The last independent paper in the Arctic, owned by Nortext, it has modernized Inuktitut language publishing with the first syllabic typesetting, desktop publishing and internet fonts. The paper currently boasts a team of 10, publishing six online stories a day, in addition to weekly updates in English and Inuktitut, covering news in 39 eastern Arctic communities spread over 2.5 million square kilometres and three time zones. Nunatsiaq says half of the newspaper’s readership is now in southern Canada and beyond, demonstrating the increased global interest in Arctic Canada.
