A look at some of this year’s blows to Canada’s print media industry

TORONTO – Canada’s print media landscape has suffered more than its fair share of casualties this year, with buyouts and layoffs a common recurrence in the industry. On Thursday, Postmedia announced it plans to reduce its salary expenses by 20 per cent through voluntary staff buyouts, though it acknowledged layoffs are possible if its target isn’t met.

Here’s a look at some of the other blows sustained by the print media sector in 2016:

Jan. 19: Postmedia announces it will cut approximately 90 jobs and merge newsrooms in four cities to slash costs amid mounting revenue losses. The company owns two newspapers each in Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

Aug. 9: Torstar, the company that owns the Toronto Star, says it’s laying off more than 50 people, mostly from its newsroom and tablet edition, citing continuing declines in print advertising revenue. Twenty-two employees, including 19 full-time workers in the Toronto Star newsroom, are among those to be let go.

Sept. 8: The Globe and Mail offers voluntary buyouts to 40 of its approximately 650 staff. Publisher and CEO Phillip Crawley says the buyouts will be done by the end of November.

Sept. 30: Rogers Media triggers a sweeping overhaul of its magazines — with Flare, Sportsnet, MoneySense and Canadian Business becoming online-only publications in January — in response to declines in subscribers and print advertising revenue. Other changes to take effect next year will see Maclean’s, Chatelaine and Today’s Parent cut the number of print editions that they publish. Rogers says it is also looking to sell all of its business-to-business magazines as well as its French publications. The media giant says some jobs will be lost, though it couldn’t say how many.