Skip to main content

I BACK REGIONAL ITV AGAINST JOB CUTS

 
I'm giving my full backing to the NUJ's campaign to stand up for ITV's local and regional news services (1); the proposed sweeping job cuts and local service mergers are a regressive step for the fourth estate and a dangerous road to be on.

ITV has announced it will cut 429 of its editorial staff from its local and regional news programmes across the country - in the process merging newsrooms and creating enormous 'mega-regions'. 

ITV has been reducing its invaluable localised focus enormously since the Conservatives passed the 1990 Act, paving the way for deregulation of the industry and making ITV a business dependent on shareholder profit instead of a protected localised service and alternative to the BBC.  It is a dangerous road to be on.

And now ITV has announced a further downscaling of local input and planning.  This is a dangerously regressive step for the fourth estate, and further jeopardises ITV's role as an important local news outlet.

There is a greater, not lesser, need for regional media in today's 24 hour news world.  Local news, like Anglia News, scrutinises local and regional politicians and political bodies and covers regional issues in a way that national organisations can't. Anglia News is an absolutely invaluable part of the broadcasting world, here in the East -- our public life would be much worse off without it or with the scaled down regional news provision that is proposed.

Local news and current affairs coverage on local services like Anglia should not be cut back.  That is why I'm backing the NUJ's campaign against the ITV cuts and have signed the NUJ's petition to No.10 on this issue. (2)

 

 


Comments

Raymond said…
There are layoffs but I still see thousands of high paying jobs.

www.linkedin.com (professional networking)
www.indeed.com (aggregated listings)
www.realmatch.com (matches jobs based on your skills)

Good look to those looking for work!
9 November 2008 at 16:26
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Post-Growth: A new vision for a fairer and more sustainable Britain

Post a Comment
Read more

More on why 20's plenty -- without need for any further 'trials'...

There are a number of reasons for setting a default speed of 20mph throughout the 'unclassified' road network in residential parts of a city such as Norwich. Most important perhaps is that of driver recognition as to what the speed limit is. If you have 20 mph as the default then you not only establish this limit clearly, but you also adjust the driver's recognition as to what is the "normal" speed in such residential areas. The most important aspect is that drivers set 20 mph as the norm with those 30 mph areas or roads being seen as 50% faster, rather than seeing 30 mph as the norm with 20 mph as 33% slower. The psychological adjustment of normal speeds in residential areas is key to the success of reducing speeds and therefore danger to pedestrians and cyclists. Therefore any trial, pilot or whatever, that only implements 20 mph in a tiny proportion of the city is not modelling 20's Plenty in any realistic manner.   When considering the val...
2 comments
Read more