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Radio-Canada Sports to cut journalism jobs

 Matthew Garcia
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Radio-Canada Sports to cut journalism jobs
Credit: There will be cuts at Radio-Canada Sports.

The media world is in the midst of a revolution. I could even have put a capital R in Revolution, but I didn’t want to hint at anything dancing…

We’ve gone from newspapers where individual performance (and profitability) wasn’t really taken into account – we filled pages and pages of papers that we then sold to people AND advertisers (we didn’t always know which page was the most read and which wasn’t really) – to a model where we know the number of opens of every damn URL link pushed by a media outlet.

A columnist no one reads is out of a job after just a few months in 2024…

And a text that multiplies clicks will generate greater revenue… for the media and indirectly for the writer. The person who writes the most-read texts keeps his job. Believe me!

Of course, not all media are prepared to do the same thing to get clicks. Some invent, others romanticize… while others bet on the long term, telling themselves that quality will always end up paying more than the cheap stuff.

I know, many purists would prefer the model to be different, but that’s the way it is. That’s it.

With the subsidies and donations that some traditional media receive, let’s just say that this performance-revenue relationship is less important for some. Enough to please some of the purists mentioned above…

One factremains for all to see: the media are hurting and suffering at the moment. Quebec and French-language sports media in particular. When you’re a niche in a niche that’s also in a niche… and there’s only one topic that’s really profitable (the Habs), it complicates things. Especially when the advertising market is in the doldrums…

It’s the same on TV – there have been numerous cuts at RDS and TVA Sports – and on radio. BPM Sports has been struggling to make a profit since the creation of 91.9 Sports…

Same goes for TVA Sports!

A few months ago, Jean-François Chaumont left his job at the Journal de Montréal to take a slightly lower-paying job at the NHL’s French-language site. Revenues were down at the Journal, and the bosses had met with employees to tell them that major changes would take place if things didn’t turn around. J-F took the initiative and secured his future.

98.5 relies less on sports than before…

And today we learn that even Radio-Canada has decided to slim down its sports department. Marc-André Lemieux (La Presse) announced early this morning that nine members of Radio-Can ‘s sports department will be leaving their jobs when the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games return.

His article is entitled ” On est dans le noir “ (” We’re in the dark”) . That says it all.

According to Lemieux, seven veterans of Radio-Canada Sports (Montreal) will be retiring in the next few weeks.

“Management has presented enhanced compensation packages to sports journalists Guy D’Aoust, Robert Frosi, Diane Sauvé, Philippe Crépeau, Jean St-Onge, Jean-François Chabot and Michel Chabot. All have accepted the offer. – Marc-André Lemieux, La Presse

There will be cuts at Radio-Canada Sports.

(Credit: ICI Radio-Canada)

Two executives will also be leaving. In short, French-speaking jobs will be cut at Radio-Canada… even before a government intending to do so has been elected .

Note that nine employees represent approximately 20% of the staff, permanent and supernumerary.

Internally, there’s cause for concern, as the people still in place don’t know if they’ll be the next to be squeezed out… and they’re seeing veterans they could rely on (and learn from) walk out the door. If newsrooms are now filled only with school-leavers, the quality of information transmitted to the general public will certainly decline.

Let’s not forget that in December 2023, Radio-Canada management announced that it had decided to cut 800 jobs; Radio-Canada’s annual deficit being over $125 million. Radio-Canada may be financed by public money, but it’s still real money… money that comes out of taxpayers’ pockets.

I’d like to offer my support to the people who will lose their jobs – and who hadn’t planned on retiring in 2024 – as well as to those who will stay, but who will have to deal with latent anxiety about their future. Especially since, according to the latest rumours, CBC’s big bosses would like to eliminate French-speaking management jobs in order to manage (at least in part) Radio-Canada from CBC’s English-language offices…

The media business has always been tough, but it’s been even tougher since the arrival of digital technology and social networks. People continue to seek information, but not in the same way as 20 years ago! The old model no longer holds when even a media outlet like Radio-Canada decides to cut its sports department…

Not to mention the disappearance of regional news.

The people around me who have left the media world to work in another field can be counted on the fingers of my own two hands… and those of my wife.

I’mnot sure I’d like it if my boyfriend were to say to us one night: “Dad, Mom, I’m going to study journalism!

For those of you who would like to know more about these recent cuts at Radio-Canada, I invite you once again to read La Presse’s article on the subject.


Overtime

– Bromance.

– He’ll be one to watch in the NCAA.

– To be continued.

– Great news.

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