EIGHT journalists in the Glasgow office of UK’s best-known news agency, Press Association, are among those to have the risk of redundancy now hanging over their heads, following an announcement that the company is looking to shed up to 50 production staff.
The proposed job cuts – now subject to consultation with staff and their representatives – follows a decision that TV news and information service, Teletext, is being switched off in January.
PA supplies news and sports content to Teletext, which is owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust.
PA employs five news and three sports production staff in Glasgow, as part of a near 30-strong workforce in Scotland, which includes five reporters based at the Scottish Parliament.
The hope is that the Glasgow-based production staff may be spared the worst of the proposed job cuts because PA is also set to concentrate its UK-based news production (there being some in India) between just two locations: Howden, in Yorkshire, and Glasgow.
Said PA, in a statement issued on Monday: “Following the announcement by the Daily Mail and General Trust regarding the cessation of services which the Press Association supply to Teletext, the company will be entering a period of collective consultation with affected staff in news and sport production.
“A restructure of these departments is proposed that, if implemented, would see a loss of up to 50 posts. However, the company will continue to focus on new opportunities in the market and we will use our very best efforts to minimise job losses.”
