COVID-19 Media Impact Map for Canada: Glacier Media

A memo by president and CEO Jon Kennedy issued to staff on March 31, excerpted below, indicated company-wide temporary layoffs and pay reductions. The COVID-19 Media Impact Map for Canada includes listings for individual publications at which cuts have been confirmed, however Glacier Media has not yet responded to requests for the number of employees affected across the company.

“Unfortunately, the individual and business measures undertaken country-wide to prevent the spread are also having a significant impact on our business and revenues.

This reduction in revenue and cash receipts has required us to take broad actions necessary for us to manage through the crisis.

We have had to proceed with a number of measures that affect our staff, including temporary layoffs, reduced work weeks and wage roll-backs. These have been done on a company wide basis including management and staff. We hope to be able to return those laid off to work as quickly as possible, and to return wages and work weeks back to normal as quickly as possible. We will monitor conditions weekly and monthly with this in mind. Medical and other benefits will remain available while these temporary measures are in place.”

This post is part of the COVID-19 Media Impact Map for Canada, a joint initiative of J-Source, the Local News Research Project at Ryerson University and the Canadian Association of Journalists. The map will be regularly updated. If you have any additional information about known changes or have knowledge of a new impact, please contact us at info@j-source.ca or fill in details using the form COVID-19: Impacts on media in Canada.