THE public is being invited to question plans to have news provision on Channel three in Scotland – currently operated by STV – run by a publicly-funded news provider, from later this year.
Although doubt surrounds whether Scotland will ever be host to a so-called Independently Funded News Consortia (IFNC) – because of Tory opposition – currently two groups are vying to be chosen to run what will initially be a pilot scheme. One includes STV, who are joined by Bauer Media and ITN. The other are newspaper publishers, Johnston Press, Herald & Times and DC Thomson, plus Tinopolis.
Wales and Tyne Tees/Borders have also been chosen as locations for the pilots.
And in Glasgow – on Monday afternoon – the selection panel that will choose the pilot operators is making itself available for questions. One of the panel members is Val Atkinson, a former deputy head of news and current affairs at BBC Scotland.
The Tyne Tees/Borders event, meanwhile, takes place in Newcastle, on Friday.
The Glasgow event is taking place between 2-3pm at Radisson Hotel.
