ITV under fire over local news cuts
ITV sparked criticism today after announcing plans to cut its regional news bulletins.
The British broadcaster wants to reducing its bulletins from 17 to nine as part of a five-year growth plan.
ITV would not be drawn on how many jobs would be lost as a result of the proposals.
Chairman Michael Grade would only say: “Inevitably there will have to be some redundancies but at this point in time I don’t think it’s helpful to throw numbers around.”
Broadcasting union Bectu said there were 1,045 people currently employed by the ITV News Group.
It estimates that spending on news will be cut from roughly £90m to between £50m to £60m, threatening hundreds of jobs.
It criticised today’s announcement as a move away from public service broadcasting.
Bectu supervisory official Sharon Elliott said: “Today’s announcement is another kick in the shins for ITV’s regional news staff who work long and hard to produce good quality output that regional audiences appreciate.”
It called on broadcasting regulator Ofcom to take action over the issue.
Paul McLaughlin, national broadcasting organiser of the National Union of Journalists, said: “ITV has a strong history of public service broadcasting in the UK. Plans announced today would drastically reduce local news in the UK.
“This is a vital service for viewers and ensures that politicians and local organisations are held to account.
“The union opposes any reduction in the quality and service to viewers and we are calling upon all those who care about the future of quality broadcasting to back our campaign.”
Michael Jeremy, Director of ITV Regions, wrote in a letter to journalists: “We could have proposed keeping all, or most of the services going as now but cut deeply into newsgathering, production, training and the overall quality of the programmes.
“This approach would undoubtedly leave us with weak, uncompetitive news services.
“The second option, and the one we strongly prefer, is to reduce the number of sub-regional programmes and bring together services in the smallest regions.
“The new combined programmes we are proposing today – if approved by Ofcom - will be well resourced, well produced and able to offer viewers high quality journalism and content that celebrates the life of our regions.
“In four of the new services we will also be offering extra local material for different parts of the region.”
