Postmedia CEO says layoffs at SaltWire, Herald are necessary to stabilize papers

The CEO of Postmedia PNC-B-T says job cuts at Atlantic Canada’s largest newspaper chain are necessary because the properties were facing bankruptcy.

Toronto-based Postmedia finalized its $1-million purchase of insolvent SaltWire Network Inc. and the Halifax Herald Ltd., on Monday, following approval of the sale by a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge on Aug. 8.

In an interview, CEO Andrew MacLeod says he didn’t have specifics concerning the number of recent layoffs, but he described the situation as a “fluid process.”

MacLeod says Postmedia is looking to find efficiencies in the SaltWire operations so it can provide a stable future for more than two dozen newspapers, including the Cape Breton Post in Sydney, N.S., The Guardian in Charlottetown, and The Telegram in St. John’s, N.L.

He says while there will be changes, the company is “doing everything possible” to preserve a maximum number of jobs in newsrooms and is committed to the local news coverage they provide.

MacLeod says a noticeable change will be the dropping of the SaltWire name in order to re-emphasize the individual names of the newspapers, especially in online editions, because of their historic links to Atlantic communities.