Mar 06 2009
The j-people will rise
Revolution is in the air.
No, I don’t mean blood in the streets, anarchy, or a government coup. Or at least, I hope not. I mean wholesale changes are coming to the system that brings the news to your eyes and ears. Not just in Denver, or Seattle, or San Francisco. I mean right here in Toronto.
I’m talking about journalists. More specifically, I’m talking about unemployed journalists, the people formally known as professional reporters. And those about to be unemployed. And those who have yet to be employed.
It has been a terrifying past year for Canadian media outlets, and layoffs hit the Toronto and GTA journalism community fairly hard. Let’s recap:
- April 17, 2008: The Toronto Star announces it will cut 160 jobs from its newspaper division as it copes with a declining newspaper market .
- June 30, 2008: Toronto Life pulls the plug on a bunch of blogs. Five jobs gone.
- Nov 12, 2008: Canwest, which publishes the National Post, announces 560 job cuts Canada-wide. I don’t know whether any of them were in Toronto.
- Nov 14, 2008: Twenty jobs lost as Toronto publisher closes two magazines.
- Nov 18, 2008: CTV announces 105 layoffs, all in Toronto.
- Nov 28, 2008: Metroland Media Group lays off 17. Not sure why reporting on this has been so scant.
- Dec 17, 2008: SunMedia gives employees an early Christmas present by telling 600 of them to go home, including 27 at the Toronto Sun.
- Feb 4, 2009: The Globe and Mail lays off 30 after 60 volunteer to go. Half of those let go were from the newsroom.
- Feb 9, 2009: Vaughan Today cuts a handful of staff and remaining workers have their benefits cut, says an industry source. No word on whether jobs were affected at the Town Crier papers, also owned by parent Multimedia Nova.
- Feb 26, 2009: CHUM Radio (a unit of CTV) lays off 17, and won’t fill another 23 vacancies.
- March 4, 2009: TorStar lays off another 60, mainly in the advertising department at the Toronto Star. Union condemnation ensues.
- March 5, 2009: TorStar lays off yet another 60 workers, this time at its printing plant in Vaughan.
That, boys and girls, represents every major daily, community paper publisher, and broadcaster that employs in the Toronto region. The exception in the list is Crown-owned CBC, which is by no means above the fray.
But my spidey senses have been tingling. I think there are going to be a whole bunch more layoffs, coming soon to a news outlet near you. I mean soon, like this month.
TorStar reported a $180 million dollar loss in 2008, and sources say so far this year has been even worse. It’s possible TorStar and its community paper subsidiary Metroland will wait until the first quarter report comes out in June, but I doubt it. They will announce further cuts soon, I’ll wager.
And staff at the National Post must be a little on edge. It was rumoured that reporters had been called in from assignment last Friday when parent company Canwest was up against a debt deadline. Turns out they were given another 12 days – until next Wednesday – to stave off a potential bankruptcy.
I find it unlikely the National Post will emerge unscathed from its parent company’s turmoils, given that it has apparently never made money. There’s something else, too, that I can’t divulge at the moment, but it has to do with this line from that Toronto Star report:
Some reports have said the Asper family may have to surrender control of Canwest in return for new financing.
The sky is falling.
But I think there’s hope. I have a suggestion.
The layoffs listed above, plus those to come, represent a whole lot of journalistic talent. Would it not be possible to bring those people together to form a new journalistic entity? One unfettered by corporate debt and bureaucracy?
This has already begun to happen in some cities in the States.
And I’m not the only one to think this way. Robert Niles, writing at the Knight Digital Media Centre, says “Someone’s going to get rich in Denver next week…”
And journalists in Seattle, San Francisco and those other newspapers on the brink – ask yourselves this, looking ahead to the day when your paper might close: Why can’t *I* be the one to get a piece of those ad dollars in my community?
And why not here, in Toronto? Rise up, j-people!
For those about to rock, I salute you.
11 Responses to “The j-people will rise”
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Rise up, j-people! A call to arms in Toronto: http://bit.ly/1kqJYs
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
A post from my own blog I thought may be relevant to this discussion:
Freelance Journalists: Save your skin in 2009 by diversifying
by TheGrayArea @ 2008-12-30 – 11:23:51
Hey good-looking,
I just came off an e-mail flurry with an old editor of mine from CBC. He tells me that the coffers are bare for freelance writers at the nation’s broadcaster until well into 2009. I’m hearing it’s the same story with Can West and the Sun.
Since graduating journalism school, I’ve never worked a day on anyone’s payroll. Every penny I’ve made as a writer/media guy has come from self-generated business. So, when l hear that the market is going from slow to frozen, I get itchy.
Fortunately, I’ve built my own freelance writing business to scale and specialize based on client’s adapting needs. My first day out of school, I sold an article idea to an online magazine that covered new information technology companies in the Toronto-area; I was paid by personal cheque about a week after I published. That led to more pieces with that ‘zine of the same flavour: company profiles, interviews, entrepreneurial stuff. After I had a few bylines, I started to package myself.
At first, I pitched other media in the same region that covered business and technology and ran in print or online. That got me a few special section features and ultimately my first CBC.ca article. After a few initial clients were established, I went lateral on my beat, diversifying to cover life sciences, investment economy and eventually consumer technology. In parallel to freelance writing, I was also building a media company.
Fullspectrum.media is focused on a) creating unique public affairs training and delivery solutions for the Canadian Forces and b) whatever else I find interesting. Fullspectrum has been built as follows: Initially, Fullspectrum was me, contracting out as a media role player to Toronto’s 32 Brigade on weekend army exercises. Later, my Canadian Forces relationship grew to include media training officers and NCOs and creating public affairs solutions for the CF at the community media level.
At one time or another, Fullspectrum has also dabbled in travel writing, copy writing (”Ya nailed it baby”), public relations for the high tech industry, and professional speaking engagements. With the feast-and-famine nature of the freelance writing business, Fullspectrum provides a nice buffer against testy freelance markets and fierce competition for column inches. I’m just in the process of expanding Fullspectrum’s portfolio to include management of strategic investments in new media technology companies. Our first deal should close in the next couple weeks.
Finding new revenue streams to build my business has been a matter of working my network, keeping my ears open for new ideas, and aggressively pursuing good opportunities at the right time. In the future, I hope to create an organization focused on community-level technology investment and economic development . . . perpetual nanoeconomy: ask me how!
Everything I have done since that first article has been about building an independent and sustainable business that I can take anywhere. By valuing my business relationships, seeking and learning from criticism, and diversifying with a strategic eye, my freelance business is all right going into 2009. I hope you are too.
Be cool,
Scott
Good article! Though you missed another fairly significant layoff from Tuesday this week – I believe 3 A-Channels across Ontario got hit and approximately 110+ peeps were let go. But at this point, is it worth counting anymore? Some of these peeps are my friends and former colleagues, and my heart aches for everyone. For those that are left (lay-off survivors), I can only imagine the struggles they face with higher demands and fewer resources to get the job done. As a PR person, calling editors these days is about as much fun as sticking a hot poker in my eye. Many of the media lay-off survivors are miserable and combative – understandably so I guess.
The premise of your story makes a lot of sense – there’s nothing stopping anyone from taking their experience, education and know-how and building something new! I salute them too!
@Scott Interesting success story, thanks for sharing! “Working my network” – great advice.
@Kathryn I was aware of the A-Channel layoffs, and considered putting them in the list, but wanted to focus on Toronto and the GTA. Barrie’s close, but not quite. There were also a bunch of Metroland layoffs in southwestern Ontario I could have mentioned.
Higher demands on and fewer resources for those that are left. Good point. I know all this is tough for them as well. And I sympathize with all of them: the people laid off, the survivors, the j-students coming up, and the interns as well. I offer hope for all. More to come in another post.
Retweeting @mathewi: RT @timburden: A call to arms for newly unemployed journalists in Toronto — rise up! http://bit.ly/1kqJYs
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Hey Tim,
I was one of the 600 slashed from Sun Media right before Christmas. I was, up until that time, the features editor and a columnist at the Kingston Whig-Standard. So, what did I do? I jumped ship and now I’m doing morning radio. They scooped me up and took me in so they’re my new gang now. But I support all my fellow editors/reporters/photogs out there. I’ll follow your website. Love websites? You should check out my husband’s at cancrime.com. (He’s a journo, too).
Sarah
Thanks Sarah. Many are jumping ship into PR as well, I’m told.
Checked out cancrime.com. It’s good!
The media market will open up in the coming months. Great blog! RT@mathewi via @timburden: http://bit.ly/1kqJYs
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
I’m talking about unemployed journalists, the people formally known as professional reporters http://is.gd/mdFa
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
for those tracking the state of journalism in Toronto – http://tinyurl.com/d9aer9
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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