16/11/2009

Secretary of State for Wales, Peter Hain today urged Welsh media organisations to join forces and submit the strongest possible bids to create a new pilot to replace ITV regional news in Wales.

Mr Hain said: “It is great news that a timetable for the regional news pilots has now been confirmed. Having a pilot based in Wales will help to ensure the future of news plurality in Wales.

“I want to see a bright future for all media in Wales whether that’s print media, broadcasting or online. This pilot is the first step to achieving that. I would now encourage broadcasters and media in Wales to put forward a strong bid to help secure the future of Welsh broadcasting.

Following on from the publication of the Digital Britain report the Government consulted on the proposal of Independently Funded News Consortia (IFNC) pilots. The responses showed strong support for securing plurality of news sources in all regions of Britain and backed the pilot proposals.

Mr Hain added: “Whilst the BBC is very important to the whole of news provision in Wales there does need to be diversity and plurality which includes quality news broadcasting on channel 3.

“I’ve already had discussions with BBC, ITV, S4C and other major media in Wales to see whether there’s the prospect and possibility of a quality consortium coming together to provide a pilot IFNC. I am confident we will get one which will not only develop news provision on channel 3 but will also strengthen local and national newspapers in Wales.�