Hooper to chair the IFNC selection panel

Richard Hooper has been appointed to chair the selection panel for the independently funded news consortiums (IFNC) that will eventually replace ITV’s regional news service.

The former deputy chairman of media regulator Ofcom will head up the pilot scheme that will be tested in three areas as a means of providing local news, funded by the excess money from the BBC’s licence fee that was set aside for the digital switchover.

The selection panel has been set up to oversee the bids against certain criteria including objectivity, value for money, innovation, public benefit and the ability to adhere to official procurement policies.

The panel will also include Val Atkinson, former deputy head of news and current affairs at BBC Scotland; Fru Hazlitt, former chief executive of GCap; Glyn Mathias, former political editor of ITN and a member of Ofcom’s advisory committee for Wales; William Perrin, founder of the community website talkaboutlocal; and Marc Reeves, former editor of the Birmingham Post.

A number of companies have shown interest in running the two-year pilot schemes that have been advertised for Wales, Scotland and the Tyne-Tees and Borders region.

Earlier this week, Johnston Press, Mentorn and Newsquest joined forces to try and win funding from the government to run the regional news pilot in Scotland.

However, the three companies, which have named themselves the Scottish News Consortium, face competition from partners Trinity Mirror and MacMillan Media as well as STV, ITN and Bauer Media for the pilot.

The pre-qualification applications have already closed but interested parties will be invited to tender before a decision is made.  The panel is reportedly looking for applicants who can set a mutli-platform public service modelthat will be able to survive in the long-term without public funding.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is due to announce the successful bidder in March.