This is unbelievable - Newsquest have told every single journalist on the Herald, the Sunday Herald and the Evening Times that they will be made redundant and will have to reapply for their jobs. Yesterday the BBC told their Scottish staff that another seventy-four jobs will be shed next year, on top of ninety-six from this year.
Both decisions are wrong on so many levels. If they go ahead, we'll have fewer investigations, fewer critical eyes to scrutinise us here in Parliament, hard-working staff will be let go for pure short-termism, their families will face the most anxious Christmases, it's just dire.
Journalists (much as they often frustrate me, usually by not running programmes or printing papers which entirely consist of Green press releases) are vital to democracy. A country with rigorous scrutiny is one where scandals are spotted, public governance is more secure, where light is cast into dark spaces. We need, believe it or not, more journalists, not fewer. I am aghast.
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