Global Radio cuts – another blow to local journalism
Up to 40 journalists are believed to be at risk of redundancy in plans to centralise radio news.
The latest job cuts announced by Global Radio are yet another blow to the news coverage by local journalists, says the NUJ.
A report in Hold the Front Page said that up to 40 journalists are believed to be at risk of redundancy in plans to centralise radio news as part of a restructure of its 11 newsrooms across the country, some of which are due to close. Those affected, says the report, are based in Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Bristol, Cardiff, Wrexham and Fareham.
Global is the owner of stations including Capital, Heart, Classic FM, and LBC and is the largest commercial radio company in Europe.
The NUJ is representing members at Global and will be doing all it can to avoid compulsory redundancies.
Paul Siegert, NUJ national broadcasting organiser, said:
“This is yet another blow for local and regional news coverage. This comes at a time when the BBC also wants to cut back on its local radio output and news services and local newspapers have also been cutting back and axing journalism jobs. Yet there is a real appetite from local people to know what’s going on in their communities. We call on the BBC and Global to rethink their plans.”
BBC journalists in England will be striking for 24 hours next week, from 11am on Thursday 20 July to 11am Friday 21 July. This will be the third walk out over a dispute between the NUJ and the BBC which plans to cut local output by almost half making many popular presenters redundant, and putting about 90 journalists’ jobs at risk, as well as major changes to rotas and journalists’ terms and conditions.
Regional and local newspapers have been hit by yet more rounds of redundancies at National World titles, with the publisher of the Yorkshire Post and Scotsman announcing 34 roles to go, and Reach, the publisher of the Mirror and Express and 240 regional papers including the Bristol Post, Liverpool Echo and Manchester Evening News, announcing cuts of 11 roles, after two previous job culls this year.