Global Edmonton layoffs and control-room move to Toronto raise local news concerns

Global News in Edmonton is enduring another round of layoffs and will have control-room operations moved to Toronto by September, raising significant concerns about the erosion of local news in Alberta.

Parent company Corus Entertainment confirmed that Edmonton and Calgary stations would centralize technical production elsewhere. Union representative Unifor said at least 43 jobs will be affected across the country, with 28 being cut in Alberta. Staff learned details in a Thursday afternoon meeting. Edmonton heard cuts had been confirmed for anchor Scott Roberts, a full-time weather position, an editor and a part-time producer position. Calgary bore the worst of the job losses.

Control-room operations will move to Toronto by September 1, and the Edmonton station will receive less support from the assignment editor — one person will now handle the job for both Edmonton and Calgary newsrooms because the Calgary position was cut. The station will hire two more local digital journalists, with management aiming to get more "boots on the ground" coverage.

Corus said revenues have been decreasing steadily year over year. Management cited big U.S. companies like Netflix and Amazon flooding the market, affecting what can be charged for commercials. When asked by staff what would be done to address revenue, management said the company was looking to find efficiencies in workflows and centralizing production was part of that. When questioned on the station's future and how many more layoffs to expect, a senior manager said he doesn't think anybody knows.

MacEwan University Journalism Professor Neill Fitzpatrick said he wasn't surprised by the developments. Shrinking and centralizing local news coverage to address hemorrhaging revenues has been a gradual trend for years. "Legacy media, there's not much of a legacy left, I'm afraid." Fitzpatrick, himself a veteran of Global News and its Edmonton predecessor ITV, said research shows steady trust remains in local journalism but centralizing broadcasts could threaten that trust. "Little mistakes are made, names are mispronounced, areas are mistaken," he said. "They hope that news consumers will buy into it, but they're not."

Former longtime Global News anchor Lynda Steele said watching the TV news industry across the country "swirling the drain more and more" each year makes her furious. "The shrinking of local news is a problem for society. When no one's covering your city hall, nobody is covering things in your community."