BCE Inc’s Bell Media division announced Wednesday it is eliminating 1,300 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, closing six radio stations and selling another three as revenues continue to fall at its legacy phone and news business.
While the cuts will mainly target management, the Toronto Star reported that prominent journalists including CTV National News Ottawa bureau chief Joyce Napier, chief international correspondent Paul Workman, senior political correspondent Glen McGregor, London news bureau correspondent Daniele Hamamdjian and Los Angeles bureau chief Tom Walters, will soon be looking for new jobs.
The publication also noted that Bell Media has been cutting jobs steadily for years, including 210 employees in Toronto in 2021.
Bell Canada CEO Mirko Bibic, in an open letter posted to its website, said the company expects to lose more than $250 million in legacy phone revenues each year, while its news operations incur $40 million in annual operating losses.
An internal company memo, meanwhile, stated that about 30% of the positions being eliminated are current vacancies that won't be filled, CBC News reported.
The cuts comes as the Canadian media landscape deals with dwindling ad dollars as well as the ongoing shift from cable TV to streaming.
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