NEWS RELEASE

DATE: 4 March 2009

ITV Staff Victims of Corporate Greed

Plans by ITV to axe a further 600 jobs has been condemned as “a shameful betrayal” of staff by the Chartered Institute of Journalists.

The broadcaster has announced 600 staff will lose their jobs, a £65million cut in its Programme Budget and a scaling back of the regional web -TV service.

Chairman of the Institute’s Broadcasting Division, Paul Leighton, said “ITV is making its staff pay the price for management ineptitude and corporate greed. It is significant that the largest component of the broadcaster’s £2.7billion loss is due to the merger costs of Granada and Carlton. That expensive exercise was conducted without any thought for the consequences if market conditions turned sour.”

He added: “It is just too easy to blame everything on the drop in advertising revenue. Reducing genuinely local news output in favour of vast merged regional centres can only further undermine advertisers’ confidence as viewers switch off. What Bristolian would want a “local” television news service that now features Cornwall?”

The Institute has urged Members of Parliament to lobby ITV to re-think its proposals.

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Notes to Editors:

Formed in 1884, the Chartered Institute of Journalists (CIoJ) is the world’s oldest established professional body for journalists, and a representative voice of media and communications professionals throughout the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth.