 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2018) |
| Type | News agency, newspaper chain |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1904 |
| Area served | Canada Europe United States |
| Website | postmedia |
Postmedia News is a national news agency with correspondents in Canada, Europe, and the United States and is part of the Canadian newspaper chain owned by Postmedia Network Inc.
The newspaper service Southam Inc. was created in 1904 by William Southam. [1] He had been a delivery boy for The London Free Press , and by 1867 he had become part owner. He bought and transformed the failing Hamilton Spectator in 1877. In 1897 he bought up many other papers including the Calgary Herald , the Ottawa Citizen , Vancouver's The Province and many more. The Winnipeg Tribune was also a Southam owned newspaper until it closed on August 27, 1980. As the newspaper chain expanded, the associated wire service, Southam News Service, was created and expanded with it.
Southam Newspapers was sold to Hollinger Inc. in 1996. Under Hollinger control, Southam made many acquisitions, including many of the Canadian print media holdings of Thomson Newspapers. On November 15, 2000, the Southam Newspapers company was broken up with the print media holdings and the Southam Newspapers name being sold to Canwest.
Canwest examined ways to integrate many of its smaller market papers into its Global television news division; however, it wasn't to be. On August 9, 2002, Canwest sold many of its smaller market newspapers to a variety of new owners, including Torstar, Transcontinental Media and Osprey Media. In 2003, Southam Newspapers was fully absorbed into Canwest and became Canwest News Service. Canwest News Service began operating in Winnipeg on February 12, 2003, and moved its expanded operations to Ottawa in April 2007.
In July 2010, Canwest's publishing division was spun off into a new company, Postmedia Network (the latter broadcasting division was sold to Shaw Media), led by National Post CEO, Paul Godfrey as a result of bankruptcy, the service subsequently became known as Postmedia News.
In late November 2017, the company announced the planned closure of a series of newspapers and the sale of some to Torstar which will subsequently close many of those since they competed with Torstar newspapers. The Exeter Times-Advocate and the Exeter Weekender will continue to be operated by Post Media, however. [2] The sales to Torstar must first be approved by the Competition Bureau. A few will survive: the St. Catharines Standard, Niagara Falls Review, Welland Tribune and Peterborough Examiner. [3] In total, 36 publications were expected to close, including 34 in Ontario. [4]
Declining ad revenues for print publications was the primary reason for closing the many publications. Postmedia's Paul Godfrey told the Financial Post, "We were once considered the whale in the water. Now we’re the minnow, and the whale is Google and Facebook. ... This is a crisis situation". In a press release he stated that "the continuing costs of producing dozens of small community newspapers in these regions in the face of significantly declining advertising revenues means that most of these operations no longer have viable business models." [5]
The operations include the Postmedia News wire service as well as an online news component through Canada.com.
The news agency provides news, sports, entertainment, photography, financial and feature information and data to Postmedia Network's Canadian newspapers, online properties and a number of third party clients in Canada and the United States.
The Asper-owned Southam newspaper empire faced criticism when it fired Russell Mills as publisher of the Ottawa Citizen , allegedly for criticizing Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, who was a good friend of Izzy Asper. [6]
The Vancouver Sun, also known as the Sun, is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the largest newspaper in western Canada by circulation. Since 2022, it is published five days a week from Tuesday to Saturday.
The National Post is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only. The newspaper is distributed in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia. Weekend editions of the newspaper are also distributed in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Sun Media Corporation was the owner of several tabloid and broadsheet newspapers in Canada and the 49 percent owner of the now defunct Sun News Network. It was a subsidiary of Quebecor Media.
Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place. It held radio, television broadcasting, and publishing assets in several countries, primarily in Canada.
The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Torstar Corporation is a Canadian mass media company which primarily publishes news. In addition to the Toronto Star, its flagship and namesake, Torstar also publishes daily newspapers in Hamilton, Peterborough, Niagara Region, and Waterloo Region In addition to the Metroland Media Group and a minority position on Canadian Press. The corporation was initially established in 1958 to take over operations of the Star from the Atkinson Foundation after a provincial law banned charitable organizations from owning for-profit entities. From 1958 to 2020, the class A shares of Torstar were held by the families of the original Atkinson Foundation trustees. The private investment firm NordStar Capital LP, now owned by Jordan Bitove, acquired the company in 2020.
The Waterloo Region Record is the daily newspaper covering Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, including the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, as well as the surrounding area. Since December 1998, the Record has been published by Metroland Media Group, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. On May 26, 2020, Torstar, agreed to be acquired by NordStar Capital, a private investment firm; the deal was expected to close by year end.
The Financial Post is a financial news website, and business section of the National Post, both publications of the Postmedia Network. It started as an English Canadian business newspaper, which published from 1907 to 1998. In 1998, the publication was folded into the new National Post. The name Financial Post also lives on in the Post's monthly business magazine, Financial Post Business.
The Calgary Herald is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser. It is owned by the Postmedia Network.
24 Hours, is a group of English-language and French-language free daily newspapers published in Canada. It was published in French in Montreal and Gatineau, and in English in Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver. The Gatineau edition was discontinued in 2008 and the Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa editions ceased publication in 2013. The Toronto and Vancouver editions were sold to Postmedia Network as part of Quebecor's divestment of English-language news, and they were later acquired by Torstar in an asset swap on November 27, 2017 and immediately shut down in favour of the Torstar-owned Metro papers in those cities.
The Edmonton Journal is a daily newspaper published in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is part of the Postmedia Network.
The StarPhoenix is a daily newspaper that serves Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a part of Postmedia Network. It has been referred to as a "sister newspaper" to the Leader-Post. The StarPhoenix puts out six editions each week and publishes one weekly, Bridges. It is also part of the canada.com web portal.
The St. Catharines Standard is a daily newspaper of the city of St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. As of May 2020, the publication was owned by Torstar but on May 26, 2020, the company agreed to be acquired by NordStar Capital, a private investment firm. The deal was expected to close prior to year end.
The Gazette, also known as the Montreal Gazette, is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Postmedia Network Canada Corp. is a foreign-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in English-language newspaper publishing, news gathering and Internet operations. It is best known for being the owner of the National Post and the Financial Post. The company is headquartered at Postmedia Place on Bloor Street in Toronto.
Shaw Media, Inc. was the television broadcasting division of Shaw Communications. It owned the Global Television Network, which broadcasts nationally via 13 television stations, as well as 19 specialty channels including Slice, HGTV Canada, Showcase, Food Network Canada, and History. Shaw Media consisted of the broadcasting assets of the former Canwest. Shaw Media properties were acquired in April 2016 by sister company Corus Entertainment.
The Alberni Valley News is a weekly newspaper in Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It publishes Wednesday and is owned by Black Press.
The Nanaimo Daily News was a Canadian daily newspaper published weekdays in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia for 141 years until ceasing publication in January 2016.
StarMetro was a chain of Canadian free daily newspapers published in Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Toronto, and Vancouver. The chain was a joint venture between the Canadian publishing conglomerate Torstar and Swedish global media company Metro International. The chain was originally branded as Metro prior to rebranding on April 10, 2018. StarMetro was not affiliated with the French-language Métro newspaper published by TC Transcontinental in Montreal.
The Welland Tribune is a daily newspaper that services Welland, Ontario and surrounding area. The Tribune was one of several Postmedia Network newspapers purchased by Torstar in a transaction between the two companies which concluded on November 27, 2017. The paper continues to be published by the Metroland Media Group subsidiary of Torstar. In late May 2020, Torstar accepted an offer for the sale of all of its assets to Nordstar Capital in late May 2020, a deal expected to close by year end.