SOUTH YORKSHIRE NEWSPAPERS

That this House notes that journalists at South Yorkshire Newspapers, part of Johnston Press, have voted for strike action over threatened editorial redundancies; further notes that the journalists voted in favour in a ballot that saw a 100 per cent. support on a 90 per cent. turnout; believes that the threatened cuts would cause particular damage to the weekly South Yorkshire Times and halve the editorial team who produce the best performing weekly paper in South Yorkshire Newspapers; condemns the Johnston Press' proposals to remove the posts of editor of the South Yorkshire Times, the sports editor of the Doncaster Free Press and the editor of the Goole Courier and to merge the Goole and Selby Times under one editor; further believes that journalists in Yorkshire are leading the fight for quality journalism and local news; supports the National Union of Journalists and their members in their campaign to defend the quality of news service they bring to their local communities; and calls on Johnston Press to withdraw its proposals, which will cost jobs, undermine the future viability of the affected titles and damage the provision of local news in South Yorkshire.