The Postmedia Effect: How Vulture Capitalism is Wrecking Our News

About The Postmedia Effect

Even as their readers move on–line and their advertisers look elsewhere, daily newspapers continue to be our main source of information, shaping citizens' understanding of the world, and their reactions to events. At the same time, continuing a long–term trend in media ownership, newsrooms have been gutted as new owners prioritize double–digit profit margins. Dwindling reporting staff is able to do less and less actual reporting, as they become more and more reliant on official releases and carefully tailored public relations handouts.

In The Postmedia Effect, Marc Edge takes Canada's dominant newspaper chain, Postmedia, as a case study laying bare the changes in news economics that over the past two generations have hollowed out the nation's newsrooms, undermining not just citizens' trust in what is reported to them, but the very foundations of a democracy steered by an informed electorate.


‘The mainstream media has been dismantled in recent years. One reason is that it’s been bought up by ‘vulture’ investment funds with no interest in journalism. Marc Edge’s book The Postmedia Effect is a devastating account of what happened to Canada’s largest newspaper chain when such funds got hold of it. It’s a sobering read, especially if one is alarmed about the state of a free and diverse media.’
-Bruce Livesey, author of Thieves of Bay Street

‘Like the Murder on the Orient Express, there were so many perpetrators involved in the murder of our newspapers. Now that Edge has given such a clear explanation, we might have a chance to revive the corpse.’
-Mark Bourrie, author of Big Men Fear Me

‘The Postmedia Effect is one of Marc Edge’s best writing efforts to date. The story is compelling, informative, and maddening. The narrative he crafts has elements of Greek or Shakespearean tragedy, filled with hubris, self-delusion, deception, power-hungry schemers, and, if you're Canadian, a feast of tragedy.’
-Marshal Soules, author of Media, Persuasion and Propaganda