Updated: Cathrin Bradbury replaces Charlotte Empey as Metro Canada editor-in-chief
Bradbury, currently executive director of content development at Star Media Group, will start her new role on Oct. 14.
Left: Cathrin Bradbury, Right: Charlotte Empey
By Tamara Baluja, Associate Editor
Cathrin Bradbury will be the new editor-in-chief and vice-president of Metro English Canada newspapers.
Bradbury, currently executive director of content development at Star Media Group, will replace Charlotte Empey, who was at the helm of the Metro newspapers for almost five years.
Bradbury starts her new role on Oct. 14 and will oversee seven print editions of Metro newspapers—in Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver—as well as the online-only editions in Regina, Saskatoon, Victoria, Hamilton, London, Kitchener and Windsor. She will also continue to manage in the interim Star Content Studios, the newspaper’s marketing and custom content group, which she helped launch in 2011.
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“I’m delighted. Metro is a booming business, which isn't something you get to say very often in media these days,” Bradbury told J-Source in an email. “I can’t wait to get started.”
Prior to joining Star Content Studios, Bradbury held senior roles at Rogers Publishing and The Globe and Mail, where she was managing editor of news and features.
Empey will stay on as editor-in-chief until Bradbury takes over this fall.
“Charlotte approached us a short while ago to express her interest in embarking on a new career,” said Sandy MacLeod, chief operating officer for print at Star Media Group, in an internal memo. “In expressing her decision to step down as editor-in-chief, Charlotte indicated the time was right for a transition to a new leader for Metro’s editorial team. We accepted her decision with reluctance.”
Earlier this year, Star Media Group shut down the free print editions of the Metro newspapers in Saskatoon, Regina and London, Ont. And 25 editorial, sales and administrative jobs were lost across the three locations. The role of president and publisher of Metro English Canada was eliminated, and Bill McDonald, who held that role since 2010, will stay on only for the transition to bring the Metro papers closer to the parent company operationally.
Empey told J-Source that while she does not have a new job lined up, she would like to stay within the media and publishing industry.
“When I joined Metro, it felt a bit like startup and it was about where can we take this brand,” she said. “I think we’ve definitely accomplished what we set out to do and with the reorganization, it wasn’t about the fit, but an opportunity to pause for a moment and really think what I want to do next.”
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Tamara Baluja is an award-winning journalist with CBC Vancouver and the 2018 Michener-Deacon fellow for journalism education. She was the associate editor for J-Source from 2013-2014.