"We don't have any details on how Canwest plans to restructure its television business, but the corporation has a ways to go to become stable," says Arnold Amber, Director of CWA Canada, which has members at The Gazette in Montreal, The Ottawa Citizen, Windsor Star, Regina Leader-Post and Victoria Times-Colonist; and at CW Television in Toronto. The latter, Canwest's specialty-channels group, is not included in today's filing.

Even if the television restructuring plan works, Canwest still faces a large debt. "Many times in situations like these, companies turn on their employees, seeking concessions in the misguided belief that that is what they need to stay alive," says Amber.

This shocking 'first' for Canada — that a media company of this size has been brought to its knees — could also lead Canwest to sell some of its papers, says Amber.

If the newspaper division cannot keep all of its metro dailies, CWA Canada is going to do all it can to make sure cities retain their newspapers, perhaps as standalone operations.

"In our view, in order to survive the restructuring period and beyond, the newspapers must be of top quality and totally committed to local coverage," says Amber.

Canwest has outsourced a lot of work and cut hundreds of jobs in its publishing division since last fall. "The cuts have threatened the journalistic integrity of its major daily newspapers. To wring more out of them is to risk reducing them to rags," says Amber.

A recent survey commissioned by CWA Canada bears out the union's contention that daily newspapers would regain readers and increase circulation were they to restore quality local editorial content and full service to their communities.

Pricewaterhouse-Cooper doesn't consider newspapers to be a dying industry. The international finance specialist is forecasting revenues in Canada to hit $3.8 billion (U.S.) in 2012, up from $3.5 billion last year. Those figures are based on the assumption that advertising and subscription levels remain flat.

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