Rogers is laying off 75 full-time publishing and digital staff

[This post has been updated] Rogers Communications is cutting its publishing and digital staff by a third -- with a total of 75 full-time employees laid off. 

The casualties included Steve Maich, the senior vice-president of digital publishing and content and Lianne George, the editor-in-chief of Chatelaine magazine, [Update: both of whom resigned.] (It may seem ironic that George was honoured just last week as the Editor Grand Prix at the National Magazine Awards.)

According to the Rogers announcement the layoffs are the latest effort to overhaul the company's magazine strategy, yet another attempt to scale back its publishing division in the face of a loss of ad revenues, although the company said the changes won't mean any titles discontinued or have an impact on the quality of content or frequency of print issues. (Rogers ended the print editions of Canadian Business, Flare, MoneySense and Sportsnet magazines in 2016 and reduced the print frequency of Maclean's, Chatelaine and Today's Parent.) 

“The publishing industry continues to face challenges, as print declines outpace digital growth,” Andrea Goldstein, senior director of communications for Rogers Media, said in a statement. “We have reorganized our digital content and publishing structure to reflect the headwinds the industry is facing and make the business sustainable.”

Bonnier Corp cuts 70 positions in the U.S. and converts five titles to all-digital

Bonnier Corp., the U.S. arm of the Swedish media company, has cut 70 positions, or about 17% of its U.S. workforce, according to a story in the New York Post. About 370 people will remain with the company. It has converted five of its print magazines to all-digital and reduced the frequency of foodie title Saveur to quarterly from six times a year.

Among the titles going all-digital are Wakeboarding, WaterSki , Sport Diver  and motorcycle titles Dirt Riders and Baggers.

Adam Sachs, the editor-in-chief, photo editor Michelle Heimerman and creative director Richard Baker were among those laid off at Saveur.

Bonnier AB is a privately held Swedish media group of 175 companies operating in 15 countries. It is controlled by the Bonnier family.

Layoffs and reassignments underway in Rogers Media's English language mag division

Layoffs and reassignments are underway in the English language magazine division of Rogers Media. According to a story in the Financial Post, one of the most high profile departures is Mark Stevenson, the editor-in-chief of Maclean's magazine. His role is being taken over by deputy editor Alison Uncles. 

Some unspecified staff are being severed entirely; others are being told they are no longer working for a particular title, but reporting and editing for a "vertical" division of the operation, which may mean writing for a variety of digital and publications remaining in print form. Reports are that 27 people are being let go. The company said it would have further announcements soon.

Rogers announced in September that, as of the end of December, Flare, Sportsnet, MoneySense, and Canadian Business will no longer produce print magazines and their content will only be available in digital form. The whole of the business to business division of the company was put up for sale (and many have been sold) as are several well-known French language brands such as L’actualité. Titles which don't find buyers will be closed down; one such casualty is to be LouLou, English and French.

Related posts:

• 60 will be laid off at Rogers Media's French magazines by year end
• Most of Rogers's b2b titles now sold; a few titles remain in play
• Rogers Media goes digital-first with a bang in its magazine division

60 will be laid off at Rogers Media's French magazines by year end

As of December 31, 60 employees of  L'Actualité and the French versions of Châtelaine and Loulou will be out of work and only 20 employees will remain at the Rogers Media French language magazine division. 

According to a CTV Montreal story, the company, which announced in September that it was putting most of the French language magazines up for sale (and selling off its business-to-business titles in both English and French) is in negotiations to sell the well-respected newsmagazine L'Actualité. A deal should be announced within a few weeks.  

According to a Financial Post story, 

The layoffs also come in advance of plans to halve French-language lifestyle magazine Châtelaine’s print schedule to six issues per year, beginning in 2017. This mirrors previously announced changes to its English-language counterpart, Chatelaine. Both publications will continue to publish regularly through digital platforms. 

In September, Rogers said it intended to sell Châtelaine, but [Rogers spokesperson Andrea] Goldstein said the company has since reevaluated and was “able to create a model that could support the continuation of the brand in French.” 

Finally, after failing to find a buyer for women’s magazine LouLou, Rogers will close the English and French language versions of the publication at the end of the year. Rogers said it was unable to close deals with potential buyers who expressed interest.

TVA Group to close two titles as part of Quebecor Media's 220 job cuts

The Quebecor Media Group has announced that it will be cutting 220 jobs, or nearly 8 per cent of its workforce. Some 125 of those jobs will be at the TVA Group Inc. and the magazine division will cease publication of two magazines: CHEZ Soi and Tellement bon. TVA Group is one of the largest broadcasters and publishers of French content in North America.

“In Quebec as elsewhere in the world, our industry is facing ongoing disruption,” Julie Tremblay, chief executive of Quebecor Media Group and TVA Group Inc, said in a statement. "We have therefore taken a number of initiatives over the past two years to adapt to the changes, including the creation of Quebecor Media Group, an integrated media company, and the acquisition and sale of various properties. Today it is clear that we must continue our transformation in order to further adjust structural costs and become more agile."  

Tremblay did not say what the likely cost of restructuring would be or what savings would result.

The cutbacks parallel the announcement in September that Rogers Communications Inc. will stop publishing four of its magazines in the new year and sell all of its French language and business-to-business publications. 

The TVA Group reported a $32.5 million net loss in the third quarter. 

Six editorial layoffs at Chatelaine because of "a shift in business strategy"

Six people at Chatelaine magazine were laid off yesterday by Rogers Publishing, including three in editorial and three in the art department. Notably, one of those laid off was Sydney Loney, the health director and editor-in-chief of Canadian Health and Lifestyle magazine.

The layoffs follow the June appointment of Lianne George as editor-in-chief, replacing Karine Ewart. 

A spokesperson for Rogers said Chatelaine made the changes in its editorial and creative departments to reflect a shift in the brand’s evolving business strategy, but that the jobs will be filled "at a later date". 

(Rogers bought Canadian Health & Lifestyle in April 2012 and relaunched it under the editorship of Beth Thompson in 2013. Thompson left about a year later to be replaced by Loney.)

Related posts:

• Lianne George replaces Karine Ewart as EIC of Chatelaine
• Several key senior editors let go at Rogers Publishing
• Rogers Publishing relaunches Canadian Health & Lifestyle

Canadian Living team hardest hit in layoffs by new owners, TVA Group

It was predicted -- and predictable* -- that the sale of Transcontinental Media's consumer magazines to the Quebecor Media's TVA Group would result in major organizational changes. A report in Mastheadonline says that some 25 layoffs were made late last week, many of them (paradoxically, it might seem) at the flagship brand Canadian Living. The layoffs included 

• longtime executive editor Doug O’Neill
• senior web editor Jennifer Gruden
• senior features editor Robin Stevenson
• assistant art direct Aimee Nishitoba
• associate art director Shelley Frayer 

In addition, senior marketing director communications and events Tracy Finkelstein, and senior marketing specialist Erin Quinn were let go. Ray Oster was laid off from the digital team as were Melissa Morra, digital product director Andrea Kolber, digital project manager Krystal Wong, and Scott Carefoot, product manager of The Hockey News.

Transcontinental Media sold 15 consumer magazines and related websites in eastern Canada to the TVA Group and in late May sold its Western Magazine Group (Vancouver Magazine and Western Living) to Yellow Pages.  

*TVA Group made no secret that it was going to focus the brands it acquired in the digital area. 

Several key senior editors let go at Rogers Publishing

[This post has been updated] Several senior editors at Rogers Publishing have been laid off as part of what is dubbed Rogers 3.0, its plan to position the company for growth. In a brief internal note to staff about the departures headed "Thank you Dianne, Beth and Kristen", Steve Maich, the senior vice-president, publishing and Derek DeCloet, the vice-president of content announced that the departures are:

• Dianne de Fenoyl, who has held various editorial management roles at Maclean's,
  Chatelaine and elsewhere within Rogers, has seen her role as editor-at-large eliminated. She was managing editor of Maclean's from 2005 until 2009 and then editorial director of Chatelaine. The note described her as "one of the country's most talented editors" who had "fine-tuned editorial instincts". de Fenoyl had earlier in her career held various lynchpin jobs at the Globe and Mail  (Review editor),executive editor at Saturday Night magazine and life editor of the National Post. 
• Beth Thompson, is leaving the company and her job as editor-in-chief of Canadian Health and Lifestyle magazine, which now falls under the Chatelaine umbrella. She became editor last September after Rogers bought the magazine in April 2012. The magazine is a controlled vehicle distributed through the Rexall Group of pharmacies. Previous positions had been editor-in-chief of Glow magazine and beauty editor of More. 
• Kristin Vinakmens is leaving as editor-in-chief of Cosmetics and Made for Men magazines, both now rolled under the Flare brand. Vinakmens had been beauty editor at Flare and Glow magazines and online editor of Totem's Rouge.  

[Update] Also laid off was Antonia Whyatt, the features director at Chatelaine since June 2010 and previously beauty director at Conde Nast's Tatler and at Jane magazine in New York. 

Chatelaine shows six staffers the door

After a brief interval since the appointment of Jane Francisco as editor, after the firing of editor Maryam Sanati, Chatelaine magazine has let go six staffers. According to a posting on the Toronto Freelance Editors and Writers listserv, (confirmed to Masthead by a Rogers spokesman as to numbers) those shown the door were: Rachel Giese,(handling editor) Melanie Morassutti (deputy editor), Danielle Groen (assistant editor), Jacqueline Nunes (assistant editor), Myles McCutcheon (photo editor) & Sofia Barros (senior designer).

The major staffing changes follow not only the appointment of the new editor, but her recent hiring of three new people in the design department. And it is part of a wider number of staff layoffs, shuffles, promotions and other changes at Rogers consumer magazines since Maclean's publisher and editor Ken Whyte was given responsibility for the entire portfolio.

Two staff dismissed at Flare magazine

Although a spokeman for Rogers Publishing says it is not part of the larger restructuring of the company, two people -- Tracy Finkelstein, director of business development and promotions and Tammy Palmer, senior market editor -- were let go on Wednesday at fashion magazine Flare. This, according to a posting in Mastheadonline.

Sanati out as editor of Chatelaine as part of latest Rogers management cuts

The most high-profile layoff in the latest round of Rogers cuts is the dismissal of Chatelaine editor Maryam Sanati, a highly respected journalist who was promoted from deputy editor in February 2008 after piloting the magazine through some difficult times in an acting capacity after the sudden departure of editor Sara Angel. Sanati presided over the relaunch and redesign of the magazine in time for its 80th anniversary in April '08. Her role at Chatelaine is being assumed by DianeDianne de Fenoyl who recently was named editorial director moving from being a managing editor at Maclean's.

As will be seen from the comments filed to the previous posting, many of the changes on the Rogers magazine side involve middle managers in trade publishing. In addition, the website for older Canadians, everbetter.ca (ironically a finalist in the recent online publishing awards) is being discontinued.It was launched just in April this year by Rogers to compete directly with Zoomer Media's magazine and website in serving the 50+ market segment.

Rogers lays off 900; no word yet on how many are in magazines

So far, we have no idea how many magazine jobs, if any, are part of the stunning 900 layoffs announced today by Rogers Communications Inc..

A Rogers spokesperson told CBC news that the cuts will be mainly executive and management staff and will represent about 3% of the total company work force of 30,000.

*If you're a Rogers employee and know some details on the breakdown of who's affected on the magazine side, click on the comment link below and let us know the specifics, anonymously. Or e-mail impresa[at]inforamp[dot]net.*

Related posts:

• Rogers media division sees 9-month profit drop of 34%
• Rogers media division projecting 4% to 10% decline in earnings
• Rogers Media, including mags, sees 73% profit drop in Q1 2009 
• Rogers offers 4-day week; Does this mean 20% less work?
  

Duncan Hood named editor of MoneySense, managing editor of Canadian Business

[This post has been updated]Duncan Hood, formerly a senior editor at Maclean's, has been named to the double-barrelled job of editor of MoneySense magazine and a* managing editor of Canadian Business. Word came in a message to staff from publisher of all three magazines, Ken Whyte.

[*Conan Tobias was the managing editor; now he is a managing editor.]

His appointment to both jobs is consistent with a recent trend at Rogers Publishing with senior editorial managers taking on multiple responsibilities. First, Ken Whyte was named both editor and publisher of Maclean's. Then in a major shakeup, Whyte took over as publisher for all the news and business titles, including Maclean's, Canadian Business, MoneySense and Profit. This week it was announced that Christine Dewairy, the art director of Maclean's, will be responsible for design at all four publications.

Prior to being at Maclean's for the past year, managing special packages to writing and editing business features, Hood had been a features editor at MoneySense for four years, during which time he won five National Magazine Awards—three golds and two silvers—in the personal finance category. He has degrees in journalism and physics and completed the Canadian Securities Course.

In other moves at Canadian Business, Pat Ireland, Robert Near, and Annette Boudreau have been laid off as associate editors (fact-checkers). Kasey Coholan and Jacqueline Nelson remain as associate editors. This, too, is consistent. Soon after Whyte took over at Maclean's, the previously rigorous fact-checking department was essentially done away with. Several editorial positions at Canadian Business have been filled, including deputy editor Lianne George, senior writer (Calgary) Tony Seskus, deputy art director Una Janacievc and cover designer Jason Logan.

Related posts:

• Six Canadian Business staffers and EIC of MoneySense magazine fired
• Chidley is special projects czar for Maclean's and Canadian Business
• Rogers shakeup: Whyte and Mitchell now each multi-title uber-publishers