Five News to make redundancies

Posted 07/12/2011

Redundancy is being faced by workers at Five News ahead of the switch from Sky to ITN, which is set to take place next February.Although insiders at ITN have stressed there will not be cutbacks when the change is made, one-third of the workforce at the company could lose their roles, reports Press Gazette.It is thought journalists who keep their positions when the switch to ITN happens in the spring will be asked to carry out more tasks and be increasingly multi-skilled.An ITN spokesperson said: “We’ve always said the majority of Five News staff will be transferring to ITN and that the new service will launch with a comparable number of staff.”This comes shortly after it was revealed than 14 more members of staff at Media Wales are being made redundant as a result of cutbacks at the organisation.Martin Shipton, chair of the Cardiff and south-east Wales branch of the National Union of Journalists, said the move comes as a “serious” blow to the industry.