Jamie Irving no longer head of board at Postmedia, owner of N.B. newspapers

A formerly prominent figure in New Brunswick's chain of local newspapers is no longer heading up the board of the company that owns them.

Jamie Irving resigned from his role as executive chair of Postmedia's board of directors, according to a news release the company issued on Thursday.

Peter Sharpe, Postmedia's lead director, assumed the role as interim chair, the company said.

Postmedia spokesperson Phyllise Gelfand said Sharpe was not available for an interview Friday.

"I can tell you that the recent change at our Board of Directors does not impact our newspapers," Gelfand saidin an email.

Irving did not respond to an emailrequest for an interview on Friday.

Postmedia is a Canadian news media company with 130 publications across the country, including New Brunswick'sTelegraph-Journal, Daily Gleaner and the Moncton Times & Transcript.

The company acquired them, and a handful ofweeklies, in February 2022 following a deal with J.D. Irving Inc.to sell Brunswick News Inc. for $7.5 million in cash and $8.6 million in variable voting shares of Postmedia.

Jamie Irving held the title of publisher of Brunswick News up until the sale, after which he became executive chair of Postmedia.

The Irving family's involvement in media dates back to the1930s, whenK. C. Irving, Jamie Irvings's great-grandfather, purchased aSaint John weekly newspaper as he built an empire that also included forestry and forest products, oil and shipbuilding.

Additional purchases led to the familyowning every daily newspaper in the province except the French-language paperL'Acadie Nouvelle, although it was printed by Brunswick News.

More editorial freedom possible, says prof

The near monopoly the Irvings had on print news media oftenprompted criticisms abouthow the papers covered industry, environment and labour issues, which often intersected with the family's vast business holdings.

Erin Steuter is a sociology professor at Mount Allison University who's followed the media landscape in New Brunswick.

She said with Irving no longer at the helm of Postmedia's board, journalists might be at more liberty to report effectively on the operations of his family's business empire.

"This is now interesting thatthere isn't an overt Irving hand in the operations of Postmedia," Steuter said.

"So I certainly will be looking now to see if once Jamie Irving is gone, is there actually going to be a difference.

"Will there bean opportunity for journalists who work for Postmedia to conduct investigative journalism about the Irvings, which are a very major industrial player."