There have been more job losses in BC’s journalism industry on Thursday, this time at Global Okanagan, a longtime Corus station based in Kelowna.
In a leaked memo shared with Daily Hive, Ward Smith, senior vice president at the Canadian news organization, said the Kelowna changes are part of Corus’s new focus, which has also involved two Ontario news broadcasts.
“In the News division, we have reimagined our broadcast schedule in Kingston, Peterborough, and Kelowna with a focus on supper hour and late-night weekday news programming. Global News will continue to produce provincial, national, and international news coverage in these markets during weekends on television and our news streaming channels,” Smith said in an email this week.
“Additionally, our Local Online team will now operate under a new model to better support local breaking news in concert with local broadcast teams,” his email added.
Ward suggested that some of that would look like voice tracking on the audio side for the Ontario markets but did not provide more information on the Global Okanagan News live broadcast schedule, only that the changes would streamline operations to meet the needs of the business.
The number of job losses caused by the changes is not completely clear, but sources tell Daily Hive it is more than 20.
globalnews.ca
Global Okanagan was formally known as CHBC-TV before it was acquired by Shaw and rebranded in 2010. The station has been covering news from the central Okanagan, with a bureau in Penticton and Vernon, since 1957 and has been a fixture in wildfire coverage in recent years.
“We understand this is a difficult time, especially as we say goodbye to friends and colleagues. These changes are difficult and reflective of the challenging advertising and regulatory environment we find ourselves in,” he said.
“We want to thank the people impacted today for their hard work and contributions over the years. We are also grateful for your patience and understanding of the challenges we face right-sizing our business model.”
The news comes in the wake of layoffs at Global News stations digital departments on Wednesday and on the heels of a sombre reveal earlier this week that the Canadian mass media company Corus Entertainment would be slashing one in four full-time jobs by the end of next month as part of ongoing layoffs.