Central TV star names face axe
By Anna Blackaby, Media & Marketing Editor

Some of the biggest names in regional news could disappear from our screens as ITV axes 61 jobs and presses ahead with its plans to merge news programmes in the West and East Midlands.


Staff across ITV Central’s Birmingham and Nottingham bases, including Central Tonight anchors Bob Warman and Joanne Malin, learnt of the cuts in a meeting on Tuesday.

Ms Malin signed off a report on the job cuts on Central Tonight with the words “interesting times ahead, that’s all I’m going to say.”

The broadcaster’s announcement comes a week after TV regulator Ofcom gave its approval to ITV’s plans to merge most of its news coverage in the East and West Midlands, creating one programme serving an area spanning from Herefordshire to the East Coast.

The plans would see identical daytime and evening news programmes in both the East and West Midlands with just six minutes of guaranteed local coverage in the evening bulletin.

Birmingham Press Club chairman John Lamb said: “It’s always sad when people are losing their jobs no matter what the sector they work in and it’s extremely disappointing to see this happen.

“It’s particularly indicative of what’s happening in the regional media picture in newspapers, radio and now in TV - the whole industry is being downsized in every sector."

The job cuts in the Midlands are part of a wider cull at the broadcaster which will see a total of 1,000 posts going over the rest of 2008 and the first two months of 2009, 430 of those in ITV News.

ITV said while it was seeking volunteers, it could not rule out compulsory redundancies.

ITV chief operating officer John Cresswell said: “We are committed to a self-help, self-funding, solution to securing ITV’s future.

“In order to sustain our investment in UK content, we have to keep on top of our cost base.”

ITV first announced its intention to deliver £40 million of annual savings as part of the ITV Turnaround Strategy in September 2007.

Earlier this year the company also indicated that, in the face of “challenging market conditions”, it intended to make further cost savings of £35 million across the company by 2010.

Unions said any attempt to force through the job cuts would be met with “strong resistance” and hit out at Ofcom for giving ITV the go-ahead for its plans.

NUJ National Broadcasting Organiser Paul McLaughlin said: “Viewers will doubtless be asking how a regulator required by parliament to maintain and strengthen public service broadcasting is allowing this to happen.”