In a note to Montreal Gazette readers, publisher Alan Allnutt announced that the paper will be making some changes to its editorial content in the coming weeks. In print, the Gazette will move away from breaking news coverage and feature more community news, insight, investigation and human interest stories. The weekday paper will also be repackaged into two sections rather than the previous three section format. Online, the Gazette’s website will be updated and improved to provide easier navigation and increased national and international breaking news coverage.
The paper will be also be launching a new website, the Off Island Gazette, in September. The new site will provide editorial coverage of the rapidly growing communities around Vaudreuil-Dorion, St. Lazare and Hudson.
The editorial changes at the Gazette are in line with a series of cost-cutting measures that have been undertaken by titles within the Postmedia chain. Much of the chain’s newspaper production is shifting to Hamilton, Ontario in order to centralize story selection and editing and reduce overall production costs.