Postmedia dailies, Sun papers share office spaces

The rumour is true: Postmedia is merging its daily newspapers with Sun papers in some cities — or, perhaps more correctly, “co-locating” them.

“We actually have fully co-located our teams in Edmonton (into the Edmonton Journal building), sales and marketing teams in Calgary are now co-located in the Calgary Sun building (the Calgary Herald building is on the market) and other moves are planned in Ottawa and in Toronto,” Postmedia vice-president of communications Phyllise Gelfand told Yahoo Canada News on Tuesday.

Frank Magazine, a cheeky satirical publication with a track record as an in-the-know media tip sheet, set off a furor that reached well outside industry circles when it reported last week that Postmedia would fold three Sun papers into their Postmedia counterparts.

Such a move would decimate the Sun brand, leaving Sun papers in just Toronto and Winnipeg, and would substantially reduce competition in the other markets — exactly what the Competition Bureau sought to avoid when it green-lighted the $316-million acquisition of Quebecor Media Inc.’s English-language newspapers and digital properties on March 25.

“Given the importance to Canadians of competitive media markets, the bureau conducted an extensive review of this merger,” commissioner John Pecman said in a statement at the time. “We found that advertisers and readers continue to value print newspapers, despite the growth of online sources as an alternative. However, our review concluded that there would not be significant anti-competitive effects for readers or advertisers arising from the proposed transaction.”

The move would also run counter to Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey’s vow that the brands would operate independently. When Godfrey addressed Toronto Sun staff at a meeting on April 15, two days after the sale closed, he said the papers would have separate newsrooms and the Sun name would “always continue to fly.”

Always is a long time, but folding the Suns would risk a challenge from the bureau, which has a year to dispute the transaction if it determined that competition has not been sufficiently maintained. The competition watchdog wasn’t available for comment.

Frank’s report, citing a “reliable” unnamed source, fuelled fierce speculation. It even caught the attention of former Alberta Tory MLA and deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk.

“My heart goes out to all scribes at @edmontonjournal @Edmontonsun @calgarysun @calgaryherald Its bad for democracy,” he tweeted on Sunday.

But the Globe and Mail’s media reporter, James Bradshaw, said in a tweet that same day that Godfrey told him it was “not true.”

Turns out, the whispers may have just been about sharing office space — reflecting what Godfrey told the Toronto staff at that April meeting, when he indicated that operations would, within about a year, move from the Sun’s long-time home on King Street to Postmedia’s Bloor Street address.

The Vancouver Province and the Vancouver Sun — both long owned by Postmedia — have been operating separate newsrooms in the same building for three decades.

Asked if that’s still the plan for the other papers, Gelfand said the company has “not stated anything to the contrary.”