The editors-in-chief of Canada’s print news media seem to be disappearing at a record pace.
One day after the Globe and Mail announced the departure of its senior-most editor, reports are coming in that the National Post’s editor-in-chief is also leaving.
Stephen Meurice, who has headed up the newspaper since 2010, is leaving the post effective immediately, to be replaced in the interim by Gerry Nott, Senior Vice-President for Eastern Region for Postmedia, according to a memo obtained by J-Source.
That follows yesterday’s announcement that Globe and Mail editor-in-chief John Stackhouse is leaving, to be replaced by David Walmsley, who most recently headed up broadcast news for the CBC.
And that, in turn, follows the departure of several other senior Globe editors, as well as the departure of veteran Canadian Press editor-in-chief Scott White earlier this month.
So what’s behind the spate of shake-ups at the top of Canada's English-language print media? It may not be any one thing, but it seems a good bet that the industry’s ongoing struggle to stay afloat in the digital world has something to do with it.
Many of Canada’s largest newspapers — including the Globe and Mail and National Post — have put up paywalls over the past few years, in an effort to monetize their online audience.
But that doesn’t appear to have stopped the financial bleeding. Postmedia’s latest earnings report saw the company’s revenue drop 8 per cent compared to the same quarter a year earlier, and earnings across many other news companies have been under pressure as well.
One day after the Globe and Mail announced the departure of its senior-most editor, reports are coming in that the National Post’s editor-in-chief is also leaving.
Stephen Meurice, who has headed up the newspaper since 2010, is leaving the post effective immediately, to be replaced in the interim by Gerry Nott, Senior Vice-President for Eastern Region for Postmedia, according to a memo obtained by J-Source.
That follows yesterday’s announcement that Globe and Mail editor-in-chief John Stackhouse is leaving, to be replaced by David Walmsley, who most recently headed up broadcast news for the CBC.
And that, in turn, follows the departure of several other senior Globe editors, as well as the departure of veteran Canadian Press editor-in-chief Scott White earlier this month.
So what’s behind the spate of shake-ups at the top of Canada's English-language print media? It may not be any one thing, but it seems a good bet that the industry’s ongoing struggle to stay afloat in the digital world has something to do with it.
Many of Canada’s largest newspapers — including the Globe and Mail and National Post — have put up paywalls over the past few years, in an effort to monetize their online audience.
But that doesn’t appear to have stopped the financial bleeding. Postmedia’s latest earnings report saw the company’s revenue drop 8 per cent compared to the same quarter a year earlier, and earnings across many other news companies have been under pressure as well.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story gave Gerry Nott's title as Editor in Chief of the Ottawa Citizen. Nott is actually Senior Vice-President, Eastern Region for Postmedia. We regret the error.