Anger as BBC World Service reveals job losses and Indian language cuts in ‘digital-first’ plan
NEARLY 400 staff at BBC World Service are set to lose their jobs as part of a cost-cutting programme and move to digital platforms, the broadcaster announced last Thursday (29).
The BBC, which marks its centenary next month, said its international services needed to make savings of £28.5 million as part of wider reductions of £500m.
In July, the broadcaster detailed plans to merge BBC World News television and its domestic UK equivalent into a single channel to launch in April next year.
The BBC World Service – one of the UK’s most recognisable global brands – currently operates in 41 languages around the world with a weekly audience of some 364 million listeners.
But the corporation said audience habits were changing and more people were accessing news online. Along with a freeze on BBC funding and increased operating costs, that meant a move to “digital-first” made financial sense.
“Today’s proposals entail a net total of around 382 post closures,” the BBC said in a statement.
Eleven language services – Azerbaijani, Brasil, Marathi, Mundo, Punjabi, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese – are already digital only. Under the new plans, they will be joined by seven more: Chinese, Gujarati, Igbo, Indonesian, Pidgin, Urdu and Yoruba.
Radio services in Arabic, Persian, Kyrgyz, Hindi, Bengali, Chinese,
Indonesian, Tamil and Urdu will stop, if the proposals are approved by staff and unions.
No language services will close, the broadcaster insisted, although some production will move out of London and schedules would change.
Liliane Landor, the BBC World Service director, said there was a “compelling case” for expanding digital services, as audiences had more than doubled since 2018.
“The way audiences are accessing news and content is changing, and the challenge of reaching and engaging people around the world with quality, trusted journalism is growing,” she added.
Philippa Childs, the head of the broadcasting union Bectu, said they were disappointed at the proposed changes. “While we recognise the BBC must adapt to meet the challenges of a changing media landscape, once again it is workers who are hit by the government’s poorly judged political decisions,” she said.
The government’s freezing of the licence fee which pays for BBC World Service had created the funding squeeze and the need for cuts, Childs added.
Ministers claimed the funding model needed to be revised because of technological changes, including the uptake of streaming services, as well as increases in the cost of living.
The BBC World Service is funded out of the UK licence fee – currently £159 and payable by every household with a TV set.