NUJ reacts to Ofcom’s ‘astonishing’ embrace of damaging STV cuts
The NUJ has blasted Ofcom after the regulator described proposals that include axing STV North News at 6 as the "best thing for audiences across Scotland."
Cristina Nicolotti Squires, Ofcom group director of broadcast and media, made the comments - which have been described by the NUJ as ‘astonishing’ - while giving evidence at the Culture Committee in Holyrood earlier today (15 January).
Ofcom has given provisional approval to revised plans that would see STV have a single news programme across its two North and Central licence areas, with a guaranteed minimum amount of regional coverage. The NUJ has repeatedly criticised the plans as being bad for viewers and journalism.
The Ofcom proposal is open to consultation until early February with a decision not expected until March.
However, last week, NUJ members at STV voiced their strong opposition to the plans by going on strike.
Responding to the comments by Ofcom leadership today, Nick McGowan-Lowe, NUJ national organiser for Scotland, said:
"Ofcom's assertion to Holyrood's Culture Committee today that STV's axing of the STV North News at 6 programme is 'the best thing for audiences across Scotland' is both astonishing and out of touch.
“If Ofcom wants to join with STV in defending the proposals, which are opposed by STV's own journalists, opposed by leaders of the five main political parties in Scotland, opposed by 83% of viewers, and opposed by business leaders, then I think viewers have a right to question whether this supposedly independent regulator is really acting to protect the public interest."