Postmedia in the digital age

Will journalists at Postmedia’s papers have to up their digital game if they plan to stick around? Postmedia president and CEO Paul Godfrey suggested as much in a recent interview with Reuters after his company posted a $12.3-million second quarter loss.

“Reporters are going to have to become more than just a reporter,” Godfrey told Reuters, adding that not everybody will be keen to make the shift.”A lot of people who have done a certain job for so long do not want to learn anything new, and the older you get, the more reluctant you are to change.”

Godfrey expects a quarter of ex-Canwest staff will need to be retrained to meet Postmedia’s digital-first focus. After all, the company plans to get up to one-quarter of its revenue from digital platforms within four years. Digital platforms currently account for approximately 10 per cent of the company’s revenue.

Since taking over Canwest, Postmedia has cut about one in 10 jobs, according to Reuters; it now has fewer than 4,800 employees.