Globe and Mail to scrap print edition in Atlantic Canada later this year

The Globe and Mail (Photo by theglobeandmail/Facebook)

TORONTO — The Globe and Mail is putting a stop to its daily print edition across Atlantic Canada later this year.

Publisher Phillip Crawley said the national newspaper plans to halt production for the East Coast on Nov. 30.

Costs of printing and distribution in the region are “unaffordable” because more readers are going online for news, he said. The money saved will be redirected to its journalism efforts.

It’s not the first time the Globe has pulled back in Atlantic Canada. The company stopped distribution of the newspaper in Newfoundland five years ago, Crawley said.

“We’ve watched the number of copies being printed declining,” Crawley said in an interview.

“It reaches a point where effectively we’re subsidizing the print delivery by a million dollars a year. My priority is to invest in high-quality journalism.”

As part of the decision, the Globe is bringing on journalist Jessica Leeder in Atlantic Canada next month. The company also recently hired a reporter in California to cover primarily U.S. politics from a West Coast perspective.

While the changes won’t lead to layoffs at the Globe, Crawley noted the company’s newspapers are printed through an agreement with publisher Transcontinental.

He also rebuffed suggestions that ending the Atlantic print edition is a sign the Globe doesn’t see a future for physical newspapers.

“This is not in any way saying print is dying, we believe print’s got a lot of value for us for years to come,” he added.

“There’s print advertising, there’s print subscriptions. It’s still a big chunk of our revenue base.”

The latest move comes as Canada’s large media outlets respond to changing reader habits, which have moved away from newsprint.

In July, the National Post permanently scrapped its Monday print edition.

At the Toronto Star, a high-profile launch of the Star Touch tablet app, which it hoped would attract younger audiences, fizzled less than two years after its launch. The Star plans to unveil a new app instead.

The Globe is making its own digital changes this year. Crawley said the company will debut new apps in the fall it hopes will improve the digital user experience.