STV journalists will strike in January over changes in news programs

STV journalists have announced plans to strike next month in a dispute over changes to news programming in northern Scotland.

A walkout is planned for January 7 next year – the day the broadcaster planned to launch its new radio station.

However STV confirmed on Monday that the new station would first broadcast 24 hours earlier, on Tuesday 6 January.

The strike comes after STV announced changes to its service which the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said would be “bad for viewers” and “bad for journalism” in northern Scotland.

While the company had previously announced plans to replace its Central Belt and Northern Scotland news programs with a single show glasgowThese were “destroyed” by the STV bosses.

This will see the STV News at 6 program produced and presented from Glasgow – with approximately 30% of the program specific to the North of Scotland region.

The planned strike follows industrial action supported by ballot by 94% of NUJ members.

Nick McGowan-Lowe, NUJ national organizer for Scotland, said: “Our members are angry at the lack of leadership from the top of the company, angry at the handling of the proposed changes by management, and angry that their colleagues are facing compulsory redundancies due to the company’s financial mismanagement.

“It is not too late for management to reconsider their plans and avoid damaging attacks.”

A spokesperson for STV said: “NUJ has informed us of its decision to take action on 7 January. This will have no impact on the launch of STV Radio, which is an exciting new growth venture for the business.

“Our investment in radio will bring profitable revenue to the company, helping to support our multimillion-pound news operation which is not financially sustainable in its current form and for which we receive no public funding.

“Our request to Ofcom for changes to the news commitments in our license, which they propose to accept, ensures the delivery of news gathering and coverage across Scotland on a sustainable basis for the company, and sees the expansion of our digital news service in response to changing news consumption.

“Our cost savings plan has resulted in 28 roles being affected across our newsroom, the majority of which have been achieved through voluntary redundancies or redeployment.”