(Montreal) The abrupt closure of the media group Metro Media, which has more than twenty hyperlocal publications in Montreal and Quebec, is a real “atom bomb” for local information, argue several observers of the Quebec media scene .
On Friday, shortly after 4:30 p.m., the company’s president and CEO, Andrew Mulé, announced to his employees, colleagues and collaborators “the immediate suspension of the activities of Métro, all [its] newspapers and [its] sites Community webs”.
“Time was my worst enemy and what I feared unfortunately happened, but in an abrupt and sudden way,” laments the publisher, who says he was informed on Wednesday that the company no longer had the necessary cash to continue its operations. activities, despite a “sound balance sheet”.
According to Jean-Hugues Roy, professor at the School of Media at UQAM, the cessation of activities of the Metro Media group is both “sad and expected”.
“It’s even tragic… It’s an atomic bomb for local information in Montreal and Quebec,” he said in an interview. It is a part of the history of journalism, but also of certain districts, which is disappearing. “Le Messager de Verdun” celebrates its 110th anniversary this year. […] These are communities that rely on these newspapers as sources of information. »
His colleague Patrick White agrees, even indicating that the two largest cities in the province will be struggling with media deserts. “This is very, very bad news for local democracy,” he said in a telephone interview. This is the end of the hyperlocal coverage model in Montreal and Quebec. We will stop covering borough councils. »
“It is not good news for society in general if we lose several voices covering the news, adds Éric-Pierre Champagne, vice-president of the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec. When information does not win, the public loses. »
He points out that the group’s weeklies covered a certain “blind spot” of the major Montreal dailies.
The president of the National Federation of Culture and Communications (FNCC-CSN), Annick Charette, describes this announcement as “catastrophic”, while she had worked closely with Mr. Mulé for several months to get the company out of its difficulties .
“It just creates a big, big hole. For many communities, their weekly was a very important communication vehicle, Ms. Charette points out. For many people, these were the only news or publications in French that came into their homes. »
“We worked hard with the owners, we tried to find parallel solutions, we had meetings with several investors, the City… I hope this closure will only be temporary,” adds the trade unionist who, last May , had feared in a press release “the pure and simple disappearance of this local press” if no aid measure was provided to the company.
In a press release released at the end of the evening, the FNCC-CSN called for an “immediate and constructive intervention” from all levels of government to save local information on the island of Montreal.
Métro Média was created in April 2018 with the acquisition of the daily Métro as well as 11 metropolitan publications and 5 publications of the Capitale-Nationale. Some of these publications were almost a century old.
According to statistics published on the company’s website, the Métro newspaper reached 100,000 readers each week. Its website had 1.9 million unique visitors each month. All the weeklies were distributed at the rate of 165,000 copies each month.
The company had about a hundred employees, more than half of whom were unionized.
A few layoffs had taken place last winter and in recent weeks.
Reached via social media, Mr. Mulé declined La Presse Canadienne’s interview request, believing he had said it all in his message.
“This is very bad news for the citizens. Access to local sources of information is important. The Ministry of Culture and Communications will continue to support local newspapers, as it has done for several years,” reacted the Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, himself a former journalist.
The businessman pointed out that despite “a major and significant digital shift”, “Metro received a particularly devastating blow when the mayor of Montreal announced the end of our mode of distribution, the Publisac”.
“[We] couldn’t suffer a devastating loss of revenue suddenly and follow an ambitious and costly digital roadmap without external financial assistance. We are after all a small business with no funding, and the premature end of our print media has left us with no way to quickly fund our future without a significant investment,” Mulé writes, adding that he “spent last year knocking on every door in Quebec and Canada” for help.
Last spring, Mr. Mulé threatened to lay off half of his employees for lack of financial support from Montreal, due to the suspension of the distribution of his newspapers in the Publisac.
On X (formerly Twitter), the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, apologized for the closure of the media. Calling the whole thing a “significant loss for the media ecosystem and the daily life of Montrealers”, the elected official did not respond to Mr. Mulé’s criticism of his decision to end the distribution of the Publisac.
“The radical transformation of the media business environment requires urgent reflection and collective solutions,” said Ms. Plante, noting in passing the work of the artisans of the Metro Media group.
Jean-Hugues Roy is however not surprised by the setbacks of Métro Média, which had been trying for several months to survive, in particular by trying to turn into a cooperative.
“The Publisac argument, when we know that a judgment was rendered a little over a month ago, it shows above all that the information business model, which is towed by advertising, It doesn’t work anymore, he says. Advertising can no longer be the only or the main source of income to finance information. »
“It’s an old business model that we tried to modernize with a digital shift,” adds Mr. White. We knew it wasn’t easy and that stopping the distribution of newspapers hurt a lot. »
Mr. Roy fears that other media, which still depend on this business model, will follow Metro Media’s lead in the coming months. “A lot of newspapers, including in the regions, are still distributed by the Publisac. We have a voice that is extinguished, but many others could do so. »
