Advisory council will 'keep journalists in the newsroom' at Montreal Gazette: Postmedia

The parent company of the Montreal Gazette has named an 11-member council whose goal is to shore up the sagging fortunes of the daily newspaper.

The advisory council includes a cross-section of local business and community leaders. Postmedia says the council has already managed to save some jobs that were to be cut.

Nearly a month ago, Postmedia announced it would slash 11 per cent of its 650 editorial staff at its publications across Canada. Ten jobs were slated to be cut in Montreal, but in the end, the newsroom staff has only been reduced by five, a source told CTV News.

In a press release, Postmedia CEO Andrew MacLeod said there has been an outpouring of goodwill toward The Gazette over the past month.

Founded in 1778, the newspaper is an iconic Montreal institution with special significance for the city’s minority anglophone population. It’s the oldest newspaper in Canada and one of only two English dailies left in Quebec.

"The work of the Council will be to continue to deepen the connection of the Montreal Gazette with the city and help to ensure a sustainable and healthy future for journalism serving Montreal and Quebec," MacLeod said in the release.

Like many newspapers, The Gazette faces a dwindling and aging readership, a fragmented advertising landscape and the steady migration of readers away from print and toward online news outlets.

The initial news of the job cuts was met by an outcry from devoted readers, including Montreal-area MP Anthony Housefather. MacLeod said the MP played an "instrumental" role in developing the council, which will advise the paper on strategies to improve the bottom line but will not determine editorial direction or content.

The members of the Montreal Gazette Community Advisory Council are:

• David Bensadoun, CEO, ALDO Group
• Tiffany Callender, CEO, Federation of African Canadian Economics
• Gurveen K Chadha, Business operations lead, Shopify
• Joan Fraser, Former Canadian senator and journalist
• Jonathan Goldbloom, Partner, Avenue Strategic Communications
• Tasha Lackman, Executive director, The Depot Community Food Centre
• Eric Maldoff, C.M., Ad. E. Partner, Lapointe Rosenstein Marchand Melançon
• Andrew Molson, Chairman, Avenir Global
• Angelo Pacitto, Postmedia's regional director of media sales for Montreal
• Michael Prupas, Owner, Muse Entertainment
• Bert Archer, Editor-in-chief, Montreal Gazette

The newspaper has in recent years shrunk in size and increased in cost, with home delivery no longer available in some parts of the Montreal region.

A Montreal businessman floated an offer to purchase the paper last week, but MacLeod said he's "not sure if it's the right time" for local ownership.

Ron Carroll, president of the Montreal Newspaper Guild local 30111, said morale among the paper’s unionized staff is understandably low these days.

"The Gazette has experienced many job reductions over the past three decades," Carroll told CTV News. "We’ve been cut to the bone, and now we’re actually getting into the bone marrow. People are worried about their future and worried about the English community."

The remaining 32 journalists and three managers no longer work together in the paper’s Peel Street offices — a shift precipitated by the pandemic. But they have adapted, Carroll said, instead working out of their homes and doing some interviews over Zoom.

Carroll said Gazette staffers hope the paper will recover, start hiring again and cover more local news.