{"id":679460,"date":"2026-01-07T07:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T07:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/679460\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T07:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T07:52:14","slug":"stv-journalists-walking-out-in-row-over-changes-to-flagship-news-programme-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/679460\/","title":{"rendered":"STV journalists walking out in row over changes to flagship news programme \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Journalists at STV are walking out as part of a dispute over changes to news programmes in the north of Scotland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The action comes after the broadcaster announced plans to cut the north edition of its flagship News At 6 programme with the loss of up to 60 jobs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The proposed change will see a single STV News At 6 programme produced and presented from Glasgow \u2013 with about\u00a030% of the programme being specific to the north of Scotland area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A total of 94% of National Union of Journalists (NUJ) members who voted in a strike ballot in December backed a walkout, while 98% supported action short of a strike.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/news\/uk\/amber-weather-warning-issued-and-edinburgh-hogmanay-outdoor-events-cancelled-YMCO2SFH7RMCPMM4YATLI3KKXQ\/\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Amber weather warning issued and Edinburgh Hogmanay outdoor events cancelled\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GV52GUAFGFJDFA6X7QFG6NUES4.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/a><a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/news\/uk\/near-complete-iron-age-battle-trumpet-unearthed-in-norfolk-C7S2DF5CUFLUZJED2VWUBSXNBM\/\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Near-complete Iron Age battle trumpet unearthed in Norfolk\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/OWLGURCBIFOSHJDZTKLPV4QQPI.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Picket lines are due to be set up outside the broadcaster\u2019s Glasgow offices from 8.30am-1pm, and at its Aberdeen offices from 11am-1pm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The NUJ branded the broadcaster\u2019s plans both \u201cbad for viewers\u201d and \u201cbad for journalism\u201d in the north of Scotland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Nick McGowan-Lowe, NUJ national organiser for Scotland, previously said: \u201cOur members are angry at the lack of leadership from the top of the company, angry at management\u2019s handling of the proposed changes, and angry that their colleagues are facing compulsory redundancies because of the company\u2019s financial mismanagement.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"525\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NUJ members at STV will hold a one-day strike on 7 January over compulsory redundancies and the broadcaster\u2019s plans to axe the north edition of its News at 6 programme.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6EFNQWpR8N\">https:\/\/t.co\/6EFNQWpR8N<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NUJ (@NUJofficial) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NUJofficial\/status\/2003451254186606714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">December 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cIt is not too late for management to rethink their plans and avoid damaging strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The company previously\u00a0announced plans to replace both its central belt and north of Scotland news programmes with a single show from Glasgow, but these were \u201cwatered down\u201d by STV bosses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A spokesperson for STV said: \u201cThe NUJ\u2019s action is ill-timed as consultation with unions and colleagues is ongoing and significant progress has been made in reducing the impact on jobs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cAs a result of our cost savings plan, 28 roles are impacted across our newsrooms, the majority of which have been achieved through voluntary redundancy or redeployment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cOur request to Ofcom for changes to the news commitments in our licences, which they propose to accept, ensures the delivery of newsgathering and coverage right across Scotland on a sustainable basis for the company, and sees the expansion of our digital news service in response to changing news consumption.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cSTV is a commercial business with public service commitments, which we are incredibly proud of, but for which we receive no public funding, and our proposals will protect our valued news service in the face of a dramatically changing media landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Journalists at STV are walking out as part of a dispute over changes to news programmes in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,918,4884,10843,806,21903,2452,206162,712,2952,113464,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-679460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glasgow","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-glasgow","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-industrial-action","12":"tag-industry","13":"tag-journalism","14":"tag-media","15":"tag-national-union-of-journalists","16":"tag-scotland","17":"tag-strike","18":"tag-stv","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115852735323894203","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}