MERIDIAN REGIONAL NEWS

Motion Text

That this House notes with grave concern the plans put forward by ITV to reduce its number of regional newsrooms from 17 to nine; notes with particular concern its proposal to merge the three current Meridian regional news programmes; believes this would lead to the loss of a dedicated service for Sussex and Kent and radically reduce the provision of local information to viewers in the South East; believes that such a merger would equate to a neglect of public service broadcasting commitments by ITV and would presage the end of local output on the channel; and calls on the Government to press Ofcom to refuse its approval for the merger.