News

Vancouver Courier lays off journalists Cheryl Rossi and Andrew Fleming

by Charlie Smith on July 21st, 2015 at 2:08 PM
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      Two Vancouver journalists have been let go from one of the city's community papers.

      According to a tweet from a veteran Vancouver Courier staffer, Andrew Fleming and Cheryl Rossi have been laid off.

      "Terrible day at today," Mike Howell wrote. "We lost & to layoffs. Please hire them. "

      Fleming has written for many publications during his career and was at the Vancouver Courier for more than four years. He's also the author of The Bathroom Book of Atlantic Canadian Trivia: Weird, Wacky and Wild.

      Known for his sense of humour, here's how Fleming describes himself on his website: "Andrew enjoys long candlelit walks on the beach, playing net and talking about himself in the third person."

      Rossi was at the Vancouver Courier for more than 10 years, covering education and arts, among other subjects.

      The paper has also appointed Michael Kissinger as editor, replacing Barry Link, and is only publishing one edition a week rather than two. Link is still with the company.

      The Vancouver Courier is owned by Glacier Media Group. It reported a $4.55-million profit on revenues of $56.07 million in the first quarter of 2015.

      Comments

      4 Comments

      Sign of the times

      Jul 22, 2015 at 7:52am

      I have a bad feeling that good writers with quick minds, like these two, will continue to be replaced by dimwits who merely paste Twitter comments in their columns, rather than coming up with something themselves.

      Xander Davis

      Jul 22, 2015 at 11:44am

      Georgia Straight also said:
      <blockquote>"
      Glacier Media Group has decided to close the 83-year-old Richmond Review community newspaper.
      It was announced over the publication's Twitter account this morning.
      "We're sad to report that Friday will be the last edition of the Richmond Review. Thank you #RichmondBC for all your support over the years."
      Bhreandain Clugston has been the paper's editor since 2000. Martin van den Hemel has been a reporter since 1994. Other editorial staff include reporter Matthew Hoekstra and sports editor Don Fennell.
      Glacier is a publicly traded company based in Vancouver. It also owns the Richmond News.
      Last December in a swap of several community papers, Glacier obtained the Richmond Review, Tri-City News, Burnaby NewsLeader, and New Westminster NewsLeader from Black Press.
      In return, the privately owned Black Press took ownership of the Surrey Now, Langley Advance, and Maple Ridge Times.
      The deal lessened competition by giving Glacier a community-newspaper monopoly over the western part of the Lower Mainland and Black Press a monopoly in eastern suburbs of Vancouver." </blockquote>

      Andrew Fleming

      Jul 22, 2015 at 3:32pm

      Thanks, Charlie. Please feel free to offer me a job. Or Cheryl. She's good too.

      good luck

      Jul 22, 2015 at 11:03pm

      I love the Vancouver Courier. Georgia Straight is okay, too.

      Uhm, sometimes you have to push the buttons and write what people want to hear rather than what is politically correct. I feel that maybe if you had been more provocative, you'd still have jobs.