A former executive at Canada’s largest newspaper publisher has been named the newest president of The Canadian Press, capping more than a year of restructuring and recovery at the national news agency.
The appointment of Malcolm Kirk, formerly executive vice-president of digital media with Postmedia Network Inc., was made public Tuesday in an announcement to staff.
“I am thrilled to be joining The Canadian Press,” Kirk said in a statement. “It has an outstanding record of informing Canadians, in both English and French, for nearly a century. Journalists at The Canadian Press are regarded for their accuracy, speed and integrity, and rank among the finest in the country. It is my goal to continue building on this record of excellence and further strengthen Canadian Press as a leader in multimedia content and services.”
Kirk — a veteran of newspaper front offices in Vancouver, Calgary and San Francisco — replaces Jim Jennings and Neil Campbell, the co-architects of a strategic review last year that culminated in their being named co-presidents last September.
Jennings and Campbell joined the troubled news service as emissaries of a new ownership group that includes the parent companies of The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and Montreal’s La Presse newspapers.
The pair presided over a broad restructuring that brought with it staff reductions and a search for new sources of revenue — as well as the return in May of Postmedia’s stable of newspapers after a five-year absence.
Jennings and Campbell are resuming their careers at the Globe, the statement said.
Toronto Star publisher John Cruickshank, the co-chairman of the board of directors of Canadian Press Enterprises Inc., described Kirk as an excellent choice to lead the news agency into the future.
“He is a proven leader with a passion for news and a distinguished record as a journalist and as a media executive who understands the needs and fast-changing environment for all forms of media outlets, including newspapers, television, radio and digital,” Cruickshank said.
Phillip Crawley, publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail and co-chairman of the board of Canadian Press Enterprises, praised Jennings and Campbell and the company’s management team for the “remarkable turnaround in CPE’s fortunes in the last 12 months.”
“The board thanks them for creating such a firm foundation for future growth,” Crawley said. “Malcolm Kirk is very well qualified to lead The Canadian Press through the next stage of its evolution into a content creation company for the digital age.”
Kirk joined Postmedia’s management team following that company’s own restructuring in July 2010, and was tapped with managing an impressive stable of digital newspaper websites, mobile and tablet applications.
Prior to his digital media job, Kirk spent several years as a senior vice-president with Postmedia predecessor Canwest Publishing Inc.
He has also served as both publisher and editor-in-chief of the Calgary Herald, executive editor of the San Francisco Chronicle and as managing editor of the Vancouver Province.
The Canadian Press, which until 2010 operated as a non-profit co-operative that was owned by dozens of daily newspapers across Canada, has faced financial struggles in recent years — including the loss of some major media clients, including Postmedia in 2007, and problems with funding its pension plan.
Over the years, the news service expanded to include a broadcast and photo service and most recently adopted a renewed focus aimed at online news and video.
