The NUJ has branded Ofcom's decision to grant a reduction in required regional news services provided by ITV, STV, and UTV as a "major blow" for public broadcasting.
The new 10-year licence agreement means ITV is obliged to provide 20 minutes of regional coverage instead of the current 30. While ITV said it will continue to broadcast 30 minute bulletins, the NUJ said 10 minutes of these would now include non-local content.
"This would mean viewers in Yorkshire being shown daffodils from the West Country rather than a full 30 minutes of home-grown news," said NUJ national broadcasting organiser, Sue Harris.
Under the plans, lunchtime news bulletins will be cut from 6.5 minutes to three minutes and late evening broadcasts from 10 minutes to five minutes. Weekend news bulletins will also suffer with a cut from 10 to five minutes.
Harris continued: "The changes to ITV local news are a major blow to public broadcasting. This has happened because Ofcom's role as a light-touch regulator has allowed ITV to have its way every time.
"This erosion is taking place at the same time as a massive decline in local newspapers, with titles closing and some towns being left without a local paper, plus a similar decline of local news services in Independent Local Radio.
"The maintenance of PSB obligations on broadcasters is critical to ensure that the public are properly informed, so that they can have access to, and properly engage with local, as well as national, democracy. It is also vital that there is a plurality of services, so that different voices and opinions are able to be heard."
The changes were approved across most services but not for London and the north-west of England. UTV and STV will be required to maintain the current output, with the borders region being ordered to produce a further 90 minutes of regional programming for the Scottish side. Welsh services will be subject to the same reductions as English regions.
However, Ofcom granted ITV's application to increase the number of regions it will provide news to, almost doubling the current number of eight to 14.
The new licences will come into force in 2015.