The Scottish Parliament has been told that axing the STV North News at 6 would be “an act of cultural vandalism for journalism in Scotland.”
Nick McGowan-Lowe, the National Union of Journalists’ National Organiser for Scotland was giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee.
STV announced last month that it was planning to cut 60 jobs from across the business to save money. This includes merging its News at 6 operations.
“A combined programme would be bad for viewers in North East Scotland and Angus; bad for viewers in the Central belt, bad for business, and bad for local democracy,” stated McGowan-Lowe
“This is a short-term decision that is going to have absolutely catastrophic long-term effects if it is allowed to happen.”
Also giving evidence was Paul McManus of the Bectu union:
“If they wanted to save money, and they were aware of the difficulties coming ahead of them, why spend over £1 million on bonuses for two senior executives earlier this year, why spend £1.5 million on new sets for news programmes?” he said.
READ MORE – STV remains “deeply committed” to regional news despite cuts
Representing STV were CEO Rufus Radcliffe and Bobby Hain, MD of the Audience Division. As previously reported, they told MSPs that the move was to protect STV’s “long-term prospects” and that they needed to “restructure, streamline operations and accelerate digital transformation.”
The also stated that their plan was “carefully designed to protect regional journalism, because it is not financially sustainable in its current form.”
The NUJ’s Nick McGowan-Lowe told the committee: “The STV North programme is extraordinarily successful, producing quality local journalism and regularly attracting an audience share of over 40%. It is a success story. Its axing would be catastrophic for Scotland.”
Last week STV members of the NUJ passed a motion of no confidence in the CEO Radcliffe and the senior leadership team.
The decision on whether to axe the STV North edition will now go to Ofcom which will hold a public consultation. The NUJ is lobbying for this to last for a minimum of 10 weeks.
