After TVA, it’s Radio-Canada’s turn to get out the axe. Three weeks before Christmas, employees learned that $125 million in budget cuts would result in 800 job cuts across the public broadcaster’s French and English programming.
• Also read: Cuts at Radio-Canada: Small savings
The sad news was announced to employees by President and CEO Catherine Tait during two virtual meetings Monday afternoon.
It was “a dark day for Radio-Canada,” responded the Radio-Canada Workers Union (STTRC-CSN).
Of the 800 targeted positions, 200 are open positions that will be eliminated. In addition, 250 people will lose their jobs at Radio-Canada, 250 at CBC and the remaining positions will be eliminated in other institutional services.
According to management, the decline in advertising revenue and strong competition from web giants are hitting the state-owned company hard.
Into nothingness
According to the union’s president, Pierre Tousignant, no one was surprised by the cuts, given the recent 547 job losses at TVA and the departures at Bell Media and Les Coops de l’Information, but “800 is more than everyone feared.” »
Employees are in limbo, he adds, because no one knows which jobs will be cut and where. “We have no idea. »
Sources reported some concern that the French-speaking and English-speaking sectors would have to cut jobs in equal proportions.
“If we’re doing better in terms of ratings or internal production, that’s certainly frustrating,” a Radio-Canada employee who has worked there for several years and asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals from his employer told the Journal.
Who tells the truth?
In addition, Pierre Tousignant regrets that CBC/Radio-Canada is using the 3.3% cut that Ottawa wants to impose on all government departments and state-owned companies to justify its cuts, while Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge says it is No decision has yet been made by the public broadcaster.
That amount is equivalent to an estimated $30 million to $35 million of CBC/Radio-Canada’s annual budget, he estimates.
“Who is wrong? », protests Pierre Tousignant, who wants to press the management for an answer.
Delete ad?
The union says Radio-Canada needs to reassess its priorities, an observation shared by Jean-Hugues Roy, a professor at the School of Media at the University of Quebec in Montreal.
“If advertising revenue is so meager, what’s the point of spending the energy to find it? Let’s leave it to others who need it much more. There is no place for an industry like Tandem that produces sponsored content,” believes Mr. Roy.
At the Quebec Professional Association of Journalists, where we can only see the extent to which the media industry is mistreated, we are under no illusions.
“I don’t think we’ve reached the bottom of the barrel. Unfortunately, we risk getting more bad news in 2024. Income is getting smaller and money doesn’t grow on trees,” says its president, Éric-Pierre Champagne.
In collaboration with Jean-Philippe Guilbault