NUJ highlights unmanageable workloads and “no confidence” in management in letter to STV CEO
The NUJ has written to STV ahead of its annual general meeting on Friday (5 June) to express serious concerns over staff wellbeing and the company’s leadership.
On Monday (1 June) Ofcom approved STV’s plans to cut jobs and axe the northern edition of the News at 6 despite widespread opposition from staff, political leaders and the public, with only 4% of viewers supporting the plans.
At the same time as cutting newsrooms and launching a £500,000 commercial radio station, STV has refused to offer a pay award for 2026 or indicate what a compensatory pay award would be for 2027.
In a letter addressed to STV’s directors and CEO Rufus Radcliffe, Nick McGowan-Lowe, NUJ Scotland national organiser, states that a series of leadership failures have left STV’s journalists feeling “disillusioned, demoralised, and undervalued.”
The letter adds that “staff have overwhelmingly lost confidence in you, your management, and the strategic direction of the company.” In October 2025 NUJ members at STV passed a motion of no-confidence in Radcliffe and his leadership team.
Since then, STV management has failed to restore trust. A health and safety survey conducted this week found that 93% of NUJ members in the company’s newsroom have zero confidence in STV senior management. In reference to Radcliffe describing Ofcom’s decision as “good news” to staff, one survey respondent said: “When the chief executive is “delighted” at something which will cause misery for many of his staff there is a problem.” Another said: “It is clear that bosses do not care about us.”
The NUJ had warned that the company’s cuts would have a significant impact on staff’s physical and mental health. The union's survey found that less than a third of staff have a manageable workload, with two-thirds unable to take sufficient breaks during the day and 79% reporting frequent stress.
One STV worker said: “I have never in any company I've worked for felt so much displeasure, trauma, uncertainty and honestly pain coming from a work force - a team so friendly, optimistic and supportive has been torn down to us barely clinging on. The treatment over the last ten months has been abhorrent.”
Meanwhile three-quarters of respondents said that they didn’t have enough resources or colleagues to do their job and serve audiences. One journalist reported that they are forced to “constantly turn down stories” and are “stretched so thin that it's a miracle we're even getting on air sometimes.”
The letter ends by urging Radcliffe and the company’s board to meet the NUJ and Bectu, who represent technical staff at the broadcaster, to discuss immediate steps to address the low morale and ill-health of STV workers.
The full letter states:
Dear Rufus,
I'm writing this open letter ahead of Friday’s AGM to put on the record our serious concerns about your leadership and to raise immediate concerns about how the strategic decisions made by you are impacting on the health and wellbeing of your staff.
As we have said before, the NUJ shares your objective that STV should be a modern, profitable company. We engage here in that spirit. However that objective cannot come at the expense of the health of its employees.
Our members are also conscious of the valuable work STV News does in informing and entertaining viewers. You will also be aware that the NUJ has given assurances that it will hold no strikes which will affect World Cup coverage because our members recognise this is a historic event for Scottish viewers, as well as being a financially significant event for the company.
STV is going through a major period of change. Since the last AGM the value of the company has halved. It has axed one of Scotland’s media success stories – the STV North News at 6, a decision only supported by 4% of viewers. It has faced significant reputational damage, and your leadership has been questioned at Holyrood and Westminster. There is a realistic possibility that by the end of the year STV may no longer be an independent company. Any organisational change on this scale is difficult and is a test of leadership and management. By any measure, that test has been failed.
The wider backdrop to all of the following is the company’s refusal to give any pay award for 2026, nor to even give any indication as to what a compensatory pay award would be in 2027. This has left our members feeling disillusioned, demoralised, and undervalued.
Your staff have no confidence in your leadership
Your staff at STV News include some of the best-respected and most experienced names in Scottish journalism, as well as talent from all ages. Those staff have overwhelmingly lost confidence in you, your management team and the strategic direction of the company.
As you know, NUJ members at STV have already passed two motions of no-confidence. The first, passed in October 2025, said they “have no confidence in the chief executive Rufus Radcliffe and his leadership team to continue to lead us in light of financial mismanagement and the failure and abandonment of the strategy refresh in May.” The following month, a second similar damning motion of no confidence was passed on the Head of News and Current Affairs and the Head of Digital and Cross Platform.
It is important you understand that this situation has not improved in the months since, and if anything, it has become worse. The opportunity to win back the trust of staff has not been taken.
A new survey of our members in the newsroom carried out this week shows only 3% have any confidence in your leadership as Chief Executive since the announcement of job cuts, and 93% have no have no confidence at all in the leadership of STV's senior management. 89% have no confidence that the current business strategy of STV will result in a return to growth.
In fact recent statements you have made to staff, such as this week describing the granting of regulatory approval for the axing of the STV North edition of the News at 6 as “good news” have been ill-judged and only widened the divide between staff and management.
As one respondent said: “When the chief executive is “delighted” at something which will cause misery for many of his staff there is a problem.”
There has been a failure to properly manage or communicate change
Against the advice of the NUJ, STV insisted on carrying out significant cuts in the newsroom before the regulator had even begun consultation on the proposed reduction of programming. We warned that this could cause stress and illness. We have been proven right.
Our members in the newsroom are significantly overworked. The NUJ has carried out HSE’s workplace stress survey and found that less than a third (29%) of staff say their workload is manageable. Two-thirds of staff cannot take sufficient breaks during their working day, and three-quarters say they don’t have the resources to do their job effectively.
One respondent said: “We're constantly turning down stories and jobs because we don't have the people or camera to send to them. People are being stretched so thin that it's a miracle we're even getting on air sometimes and that means there is sometimes no production help available to the six o’clock news programme.”
82% of our members at STV say that senior management doesn’t keep staff informed about significant changes in the business. 89% disagree with the statement “Changes affecting my work are communicated clearly”. 86% of our members say management doesn’t consult employees when planning changes.
One member of staff in the newsroom said: “The entire process of the redesigning of the news output in recent months has been disgraceful. I only found out about changes to my job when I brought up an issue, to find out the specific task is no longer required. As mentioned, my upper manager has not had a single meeting with my team to discuss ongoing changes with working styles, expectations or outputs. We are very much expected to change how we do things at the drop of a hat with no support.”
The mental and physical health of your staff is suffering as a result of your leadership
This uncertainty and overwork is making your employees ill. 79% say they often feel stressed because of their work. A similar percentage said this adversely affects their mental health, with half of saying it affects their physical health.
One respondent to our survey said: “I have never worked in a company before where the work force has been so belittled. They are unmotivated, struggling, overworked and over stressed in the worst possible way.”
Another said: “[Senior management] have had no serious regard for any of us while making decisions that are detrimental to the mental health of their employees. The concept of them coming in with plan after plan on how things will work only to be told absolutely nothing and leaving us in limbo has only increased the level of stress we're all feeling. I have never in any company I've worked for felt so much displeasure, trauma, uncertainty and honestly pain coming from a work force - a team so friendly, optimistic and supportive has been torn down to us barely clinging on. The treatment over the last ten months has been abhorrent.”
A further respondent said: “The people are the best thing about STV but it seems management don't see that. They don't see the effort that is poured into providing the best news output that we can across the country. I have never experienced such low morale in my time at the company than in the last few months. It is clear that bosses do not care about us.”
This is not news to you. We know individual members of staff have raised their serious concerns to you and other senior managers about this and still nothing has been done.
Editorial interference
The cuts at STV has been one of the major media stories in Scotland in the last eight months, and has rightly brought scrutiny from both parliaments, from the regulator, from trade unions, and from the public. STV News has also faced two high-profile days of industrial action.
During this, STV News’ journalists have sought to cover these events impartially and fairly, putting aside their own views and laying out balanced reporting of all sides. Their professionalism should be applauded.
However it is with grave concern that the editorial judgements of the newsroom have faced direct interference from the commercial interests of the company. These are not the actions of a responsible company with public service broadcasting obligations.
One respondent said: “It has been made clear that Rufus and upper management do not care about protecting the well-deserved positive reputation and trust that STV News has created. They are running the programme into the ground.
I invite you to give an assurance that STV News will remain editorially independent, and that journalists acting in good faith and seeking to report fairly and impartially on their own employer will not face corporate interference or any other consequences.
Action is needed
I have laid out in detail the feeling in the newsroom, and the consequences your lack of leadership so far has had a direct impact on the health of staff, on shareholders, on editorial independence, and ultimately on viewers and advertisers.
This cannot go on.
I am calling on you personally to meet urgently with the joint unions, together with relevant members of the board, to understand the wider issues from the NUJ’s HSE survey, and for you to lay out concrete steps on an immediate and medium term timescale which will address the issues listed above.
Yours sincerely,
Nick McGowan-Lowe | NUJ Scotland national organiser