Postmedia cuts 25 jobs in Calgary as it merges Sun and Herald newsrooms

Postmedia is cutting 25 jobs in Calgary, sources say, as the media giant merges the Herald and Sun into one newsroom in a major reorganization that has resulted in 90 job losses across the country.

The media organization fired its two Edmonton editors on Monday morning, and appointed its Calgary editors to take over responsibility of all four Alberta newspapers.

• Postmedia cuts 90 editorial jobs, merges newsrooms in 4 cities
• A history of Calgary newspapers and those who worked on them

Postmedia has "faced ongoing pressures from all sides" since its inception, president Paul Godfrey said in a memo to staff obtained by the CBC.

Godfrey says Calgary Sun editor Jose Rodriguez will assume responsibility for both the Calgary Sun and Herald.

Former Calgary Herald editor Lorne Motley will relocate to Edmonton to take over both the Edmonton Sun and Journal.

The announcement came hours after news broke that the Edmonton Journal's editor-in-chief and managing editor were being dismissed.

The changes are part of a drive to cut $80 million in costs before the end of 2017, which will see job losses across the country.

"Today we say goodbye to approximately 90 of our talented journalists, colleagues and friends," Godfrey wrote.

"That significant of [a cost-cutting] initiative requires looking at everything in a new way and considering approaches we have never taken — truly nothing is off the table," he added.

2 papers, 1 newsroom

The changes target cities like Calgary and Edmonton where Postmedia has two papers.

While the company will still operate "separate brands in each of these markets," they will be merging their newsrooms into one per city.

"Local news and events will be covered, reported on and investigated by one team in Ottawa, one team in Calgary, one team in Edmonton and one team in Vancouver," Godfrey wrote.

"We will continue to operate our broadsheet newspapers and our tabloid newspapers in their current formats and with the features and focus that our readers have come to expect from their favourite news brands," he added.

In 2013, Postmedia put the Calgary Herald building up for sale and planned to outsource printing in a bid to cut costs. Roughly 60 printing staff were expected to lose their jobs because of the decision.

Goodbye tweets

Some staff from the Calgary Sun and Herald, and those who worked with them, took to Twitter to say their goodbyes as employees were being laid off throughout the day.