THE National Union of Journalists (NUJ) slammed Ofcom as “out of touch” today, after its director branded STV plans to axe 60 jobs and centralise its news offering in Glasgow as the “best thing for audiences.”

The comments came from the regulator’s group director of broadcast and media, Cristina Nicolotti Squires, in evidence to Holyrood’s culture committee as it looked at the plan to ditch dedicated north of Scotland news programming.

Insisting “our minds are not made up,” Ms Nicolotti Squires told MSPs: “We think that the proposal they’re putting forward is the best thing for audiences across Scotland and for the sustainability of the STV licence.”

Branding the comment “both astonishing and out of touch,” NUJ Scotland organiser Nick McGowan-Lowe hit back: “If Ofcom wants to join with STV in defending the proposals, which are opposed by STV’s own journalists, opposed by leaders of the five main political parties in Scotland, opposed by 83 per cent of viewers, and opposed by business leaders, then I think viewers have a right to question whether this supposedly independent regulator is really acting to protect the public interest.”