NUJ submission to the Expert Panel on a Shadow Broadcasting and Communications Authority for Wales, October 2022
Following consultation, the Welsh Executive Council found no support for going further than current policy on devolution of the media.
The National Union of Journalists adopted a policy, largely concerned with television, on the devolution of broadcasting at its 2021 Delegate Meeting (biennial conference). In preparing to give evidence to the Shadow Broadcast Authority Expert Panel, the union’s Welsh Executive Council has consulted the NUJ chapels (office branches) at BBC Wales and ITV Wales. It found no support for going further than current policy. The NUJ calls for S4C to be funded and managed in Wales and overseen (at arm’s length) by the Senedd. This policy is in response to the severe cuts imposed by the DCMS on S4C’s budget. However, the union’s policy is that this devolution of responsibility would require a fair financial settlement for the Welsh Government from the Treasury that would allow it to adequately fund S4C.