BBC Newsnight’s Urban to leave after 35 years amid cuts
BBC Newsnight’s diplomatic editor Mark Urban has announced he is to leave amid cuts to the current affairs programme, saying he didn’t even apply for another job at the broadcaster.
Urban has spent more than three decades at Broadcasting House and has been in his position since 1995.
He revealed his departure on X yesterday, writing: “I’ll be leaving the BBC at the end of May. Newsnight in its current format will end then, so most posts will go. I decided not to apply for other BBC jobs. Working there for 35 [years] has been life defining: an eyewitness to history collaborating with such brilliant colleagues. But it’s time for a change.”
Former Newsnight producer Sam Mcalister and ex-newsnight journalist Matthew Thompson described his departure as a loss for the BBC.
Mcalister, who secured the interview with the Duke of York for the show and has been recently depicted by Billie Piper in the Netflix film Scoop, wrote: “Welcome to the outside, my friend. Thank you for always being such a brilliant correspondent of course, but such a cool, calm, clever colleague, who was always kind and had time for producers. And of course, a brilliant acerbic wit.”
The BBC News press account stated: “You will be much missed Mark!” After his initial post, Urban wrote: “Good Lord I’m bowled over by the replies to this. You’ve brought a tear to the eye of this old bruiser!.”
The BBC previously announced a raft of changes to save the news division £7.5 million including plans to cut Newsnight to a 30-minute show and having more than half of the programme’s 60 jobs go. Last year, the longest-serving presenter of the show Kirsty Wark said she would be departing.
The 69-year-old presenter, who told the BBC of her plans before the cuts, has spent more than 30 years at Newsnight, is set to step down after the general election.
In 2022, Emily Maitlis left the series to start a Global podcast called The News Agents with former BBC North America editor Jon Sopel. They were then joined by Lewis Goodall, who had been Newsnight policy editor. The BBC has been contacted for a response about Urban’s departure.