Media observers say the abrupt closure of Quebec newspaper publisher Métro Média will end news coverage of local government in parts of the province’s two largest cities.Giordano Ciampini/The Canadian Press
The abrupt closing of Métro Média, which had about 20 publications in Montreal and Quebec City, has prompted renewed concern about local news coverage in the province – and the country.
Andrew Mulé, the company’s president and CEO, announced Friday afternoon “the immediate suspension of Métro’s operations, all our newspapers and our community websites.”
He blamed Montreal’s decision to end the distribution of the Publisac, which included Métro’s free newspapers and merchant flyers, to residents’ doors this year, as well as the lack of financial support for Métro’s digital transition.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante called losing Métro a big loss on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter – but she did not address Mr. Mulé's claim that scrapping Publisac led to the closing.
Mr. Mulé responded to her post by saying that “the beauty of communicating on social media is total control of the message when you publish it, without the need for independent fact-checking. Good luck with that Montreal.”
Lili Boisvert, who was the director of multiplatform content at Métro, said local communities will lose access to vital information.
“Our goal was to talk to citizens about what was happening in their immediate environment,” she said in an interview. “The local level can sometimes seem futile when compared to major global issues … But it is at the local level that we are most likely to have an impact.”
The sudden announcement was widely lamented in the industry.
“This is bad news because we are losing an important voice for local and even hyperlocal coverage,” said Éric-Pierre Champagne, vice-president of the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec, which represents reporters in newsrooms across the province. “It’s important coverage that is a bit of a blind spot for the mainstream media” and is unlikely to be restored any time soon, he said in an interview.
“Sad news,” said Le Devoir director Brian Myles on X. “A reminder that nothing is certain in the media field despite the dedication of their craftspeople.”
“This is very bad news for citizens. Access to local sources of information is important,” said Quebec’s Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, on the same platform.
François Cardinal, the deputy publisher at La Presse, said what happened to Métro demonstrates that print outlets that have yet to complete their digital shift are threatened and under pressure. “They feel they have no choice but to leave paper, with prices skyrocketing and advertisers leaving,” but creating an online platform that attracts readers and generates engagement is complex and expensive, he said in a statement.
Métro Média was created in 2018 when it acquired publications from TC Transcontinental.
According to the company’s website, it published a daily newspaper reaching 100,000 readers per week, with a website registering 1.9 million unique visitors per month. It also had 11 weekly publications in Montreal and five more in Quebec City, some of which were almost 100 years old.
Métro employed about 100 people, but a few layoffs had already taken place recently.
The Corriere Italiano Montreal, an Italian-language community newspaper belonging to Métro, announced it would close in March and published its final edition on April 6. The publication was launched in 1952.
Métro is not the only Canadian outlet that has been struggling.
“What’s happening with Métro is part of a tsunami of bad news when it comes to Canadians’ ability to stay informed about what’s happening in their communities,” said April Lindgren, a professor at Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Journalism.
Ms. Lindgren leads the Local News Research Project, which documents changes in the Canadian media landscape. Their latest report shows that between 2008 and June 1 of this year, 474 local news operations closed in 335 communities across the country. These included independent outlets as well as publications from bigger players such as Postmedia and Transcontinental. Most of them were community newspapers that published fewer than five times per week.
Other outlets, including Postmedia newspapers and Quebecor’s Journal de Montréal, have cancelled print editions. Postmedia, Bell and Quebecor also cut hundreds of positions this year.
“All of this adds up to evidence of an increasingly difficult environment for local news providers in a world where it was already really difficult for them,” Ms. Lindgren said in an interview.
She said the end of pandemic subsidies, a drop in advertising revenues and the uncertainty and potential loss of traffic related to Meta’s blockage of news in Canada are compounding difficulties for news outlets.
“I usually like to err on the side of optimism, but these days, with all of these factors coming into play, I’m actually more concerned than ever about whether people are going to have access to timely, verified news that’s independently produced,” Ms. Lindgren said. “It’s quite depressing.”
With a report from The Canadian Press