Concerns are growing that proposed cuts at STV could leave the broadcaster struggling to cover breaking news from beyond Scotland’s central belt.
Insiders have told The Times that plans to axe Aberdeen-based news bulletins would amount to a “hollowing out” of the company’s regional journalism.
STV is proposing to cut 60 jobs and end its nightly north of Scotland programme, which currently serves audiences in Tayside, the northeast, and the Highlands and Islands.
Under the restructuring, only a single 6pm national news programme would remain, produced from the company’s Glasgow headquarters at Pacific Quay.
Staff and union representatives say the changes would mean parts of the programme being pre-recorded, creating what one insider described as “a huge problem” for covering late-breaking stories.
“Anything that happens after 5pm won’t make it,” they told The Times, warning that live sports coverage for Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness could also disappear.
The plans have drawn cross-party political opposition, with First Minister John Swinney and the leaders of all four Holyrood opposition parties expressing concern. Ofcom approval is required before any cancellation of regional bulletins, but staff claim STV intends to centralise production regardless of the outcome.
Russell Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said the move would make it “almost impossible to cover late-breaking stories that matter locally.” He added: “This is not progress; it’s a hollowing-out of regional journalism. Ofcom must step in.”
STV chief executive Rufus Radcliffe said the changes were driven by a challenging advertising market and a slowdown in programme commissions. He insisted newsgathering would continue “from all of our existing locations,” while the company expands its digital news output to adapt to “fast-changing viewing behaviour.”