Ofcom delays decision over STV programming cuts
Ofcom has postponed its decision on whether to allow STV to scrap its dedicated news service for the north of Scotland.
The verdict, which was to come before Easter, will now be made after May's Holyrood election - an unnecessary delay that will create further uncertainty, stress and strain for workers at the company.
Nick McGowan-Lowe, NUJ national organiser for Scotland, said:
"This is an astonishing announcement by Ofcom. It is now over seven months since STV caused a disastrous crash in its share price and made the short-sighted decision to slash newsroom jobs in response to board-room incompetence. Since then, STV's talented journalists have been overstretched in trying to produce the same quality news programmes with a drastically reduced number of staff while they wait for Ofcom to make its mind up.
"Either Ofcom chooses to stand by their earlier statement that these proposed changes are the 'best thing for audiences', or they choose to listen to the 83% of viewers in the north of Scotland, the leaders of the five main political parties, and STV's own journalists - all of whom oppose these drastic cuts. But whichever way they decide, STV's viewers and journalists deserve to know the decision now, and there is no sound reason why this should be delayed until after the Scottish elections."
Read more about the NUJ's campaign to protect journalism and stop the cuts at STV.