Stop ITV cuts, MPs are urged

NUJ MEMBERS in ITV lobbied MPs in March to raise their concerns about the future of local and regional news. They joined members of BECTU and Unite, the other ITV unions, to highlight the damaging cuts that the company is proposing to make to local news services.

ITV wants to cut regional news budgets in half and merge existing regional bulletins. The plans need approval by Ofcom, which is currently considering the future of public service broadcasting in a major ­consultation exercise.

Union broadcasting organiser Paul McLaughlin said: “ITV claims that it has to make these cuts because of increased digital competition, but these changes are far from inevitable. There are a host of ways in which the regulator could act to protect and strengthen public service broadcasting.”

The Journalist is published by the National Union of Journalists