The Offshore Energy Branch of RMT is calling on the STV Group to reconsider their reported decision to drop their flagship north of Scotland news programme. At a time of significant change for society in Scotland, and particularly for people and industry in the north and north-east of the country, there is a need for more news coverage not less, or worse, no news at all!
The reports that STV are planning to replace the evening news bulletin in the north of Scotland with a centrally produced news programme, based solely in Glasgow, (and making many journalists in the north east redundant) should be a major concern to those employed or involved in all offshore energy industries.
The journalistic expertise in oil and gas, the supply chain, the offshore renewable industries, and the geopolitical influences of those industries, is predominantly based in the north east of Scotland. The workforce also has a voice through these journalists. These redundancies and the shutting down of the north news bulletin risk moving the current problems faced by those in the industry further down the news agenda, and making the reporting of these industries even more London-centric, and all involved whether employers or employees, will agree that this is no good thing.
When the Scottish Media Group took over the Grampian franchise in June 1997, and again when they retired the Grampian name in May 2006, they committed to retaining local news coverage. This has been eroded since then, but to lose it completely is a step too far for those of us who rely on this coverage, especially relating to our industries.
The RMT/OILC Offshore branch calls on the STV Group to reconsider their plan to cancel the north news bulletin, and retain the journalistic expertise that we need relating to our industries.
