Tuesday, September 30, 2008

ITV Job Cuts Announced

Just days after being given the effective go-ahead by Ofcom to cut their programming, ITV have announced cuts to nearly half their jobs, cutting 430 from their 1,075 staff.

At ITV Wales, one in seven jobs are to go - with 17 going from the 130 staff.

As warned last week, these cuts will inevitably impact on broadcast journalism in Wales, and especially on political coverage.

The National Union of Journalists have not ruled out industrial action, and I'm sure that Plaid will be fighting their corner - not just for their jobs, but for the coverage of current affairs in Wales.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

wel....i think its time for a welsh broadcasting service live from Cardiff....

we seen all the rubbish from london. and not many of what they have to say affects us here in Wales

we need a channel 3 tv for Wales which brings news and current affairs in the english language from Cardiff....ITV Wales planning to stand alone??
for the sake of our country's identity they better....

is there possibility the government here in Wales can fund to keep more Welsh broadcasting services.....?

Ian James Johnson said...

A well functioning democracy needs a pluracy of views in the media, and ITV (or an alternative free-to-air broadcaster) should be playing that role in Wales.

Ofcom are looking at these issues largely from a UK perspective, but we need to look at it from the Welsh position - could a stand-alone ITV Wales (perhaps along the lines of the S4C/C4 relationship) be seriously viable?

Given the importance of the media to our daily lives and the lack of control held over the hundreds of tv channels shown in Wales, the Assembly should be pushing for full devolution of powers over broadcasting, as Plaid called for once again at the National Conference last month.