OTTAWA - CANWEST Global Communications, Canada's largest media company, announced 560 job cuts on Wednesday, or about five per cent of its workforce in order to streamline its operations and trim costs.

'These actions are a result of the current economic environment as well as the structural challenges in the conventional television model', the company said in a statement.

'They also reflect Canwest's ongoing review of work processes to achieve maximum operating efficiencies, and its transformation into a multi-platform media company that is building its audience using digital media'.

The staff reductions include 210 positions at the company's television stations in Canada, and 350 positions in its publishing group including at its flagship newspaper, the National Post.

Canwest also owns television and radio stations in New Zealand, Australia, Turkey, Indonesia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. -- AFP