Written evidence from the National Union
of Journalists
1. The NUJ represents around 35,000 journalists
in the UK working across all sectors of the media. Our membership
covers the full range of media businesses, including local and
national newspapers, broadcasters, online media, magazines, books
and public relations.
2. Northern Ireland is not the same as other
nations and regions of the UK. It is a post-conflict society and
as such the provision of local news is of even greater importance
to society. The proposed justification for reducing news and current
affairs coverage because of the changing political situation in
Northern Ireland is simply not valid. The nature of news may have
changed, but its importance has not diminished.
3. There continue to be sensitivities concerning
the provision of news and current affairs that are not always
fully appreciated by those who would seek to impose a template
for broadcasting in Northern Ireland.
4. Different strands of civic society such
as the economy, education, health, the arts and sport deserve
not just adequate coverage but analysis too.
5. Reducing the number of hours of news
and current affairs TV broadcasting in Northern Ireland means
cutting the amount of coverage that can be devoted to any of these
topics.
6. Northern Ireland's changing agenda needs
to be reflected by quality broadcasting from a range of sources.
UTV
7. The recent reduction of local output
from UTV has resulted in a distinct lack of competition for BBC
Northern Ireland. This virtual monopoly has potentially serious
implications for a democratic society.
8. This is especially true of TV current
affairs output in which there has been a substantial reduction
in Northern Ireland. Therefore there are now fewer opportunities
for investigative reporting.
BROADCASTING COMMISSION
9. We feel there should be a public debate
on whether Northern Ireland needs its own Broadcasting Commission.
Given the size of Northern Irish society, we feel it is important
that there would be no political control of any such organisation.
It would need to be independent and autonomous. This would be
crucial.
BBC SHARING
10. The BBC offer that it shares its news
infrastructure and pictures with rival broadcasting organisations
could—we feel—limit competition and the wide ranging
and diverse nature of stories covered.
OFCOM
11. The Ofcom suggestion to have a new consortium
of news providers and commercial broadcasters set up to sustain
news provision as well as a new agency or competitive fund to
provide non-news programmes for TV is noted with interest. Many
questions need to be answered regarding the detail of how these
ideas might operate in practice. Any such consortium/agency should
be housed independently of the BBC and should have its own resources
that do not diminish existing funding for public service broadcasting
or quality journalism. New sources of funding would need to be
identified.
12. There should be a public debate and
transparency about the structure of any such consortium/agency—including
how it should be funded.
13. The NUJ remains concerned about the
employment standards in many media organisations in Northern Ireland.
Any new structure must take into account the need to improve employment
conditions.
14. There should be more opportunities for
television professionals from Northern Ireland to provide content
on the UK networks.
IRISH LANGUAGE
15. Whatever broadcasting arrangements are
made for Northern Ireland in the future, there needs to be more
than one source on free-to-view channels for Irish language programming.
16. The NUJ would be happy to elaborate
on this submission by giving oral evidence to the committee if
required.
1 May 2009
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