SUN MEDIA CUTS 302 JOBS, 21 AT BOWES COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS

Sun Media will cut five per cent of its workforce, including 21 jobs at its Bowes Community Newspapers division and six jobs within its French-language community weeklies.

Citing the increasing cost of newsprint, an ongoing newspaper circulation war and a general economic slowdown, Sun Media announced that 302 jobs would be eliminated, including 180 full-time jobs, 34 part-time and 15 freelance jobs. Seventy-three job openings won’t be filled. The cuts reduce Sun Media’s workforce to 5,757.

“Everyone is faced with this,” Toronto Sun Publisher Les Pyette said in the Toronto Sun. “These are not performance issues. It’s the business climate.”

The announcement came just a few days after Quebecor posted a $25.7-million first-quarter loss, down from year-earlier earnings of $13.4 million.