BBC axes to fall on 450 journalists

BROADCASTING: Financial cutbacks to Newsnight, the 5Live radio network and other parts of the BBC’s news output will see around 450 journalists and managers lose their jobs, with more of those remaining to be based outside London.

FINANCIAL CUTBACKS to Newsnight, the 5Live radio network and other parts of the BBC’s news output will see around 450 journalists and managers lose their jobs, with more of those remaining to be based outside London, the corporation has said.

The cuts will see a review of the number of presenters across the organisation, as well as the closure of the Victoria Derbyshire TV programme, which was announced last week. In addition, World Update on the English branch of the World Service will be shut down.

The BBC said it wanted to “reduce duplication” while making savings of £80m. The changes would mean “a reduction in the overall number of stories covered” and “further investment in digital news”.

Fran Unsworth, director of news and current affairs, said the corporation had to “face up to the changing way audiences are using us” and to become “relevant for the people we are not currently reaching”.

She added: “We are spending too much of our resources on traditional linear broadcasting and not enough on digital.”

The cuts have been imposed on BBC News as part of wider financial pressures on the corporation, including having to pay the licence fees of viewers over 75 who are on pension credit.

The corporation has also been forced into paying large amounts to some female staff in a dispute over equal pay. The radio presenter Sarah Montague received a £400,000 settlement and her colleague Samira Ahmed won an employment tribunal.

Ms Derbyshire, who has said she learned only second-hand that her BBC Two show was to be axed, reportedly confronted Ms Unsworth about the decision at yesterday’s staff briefing. She also dismissed claims by the corporation that her show had failed to increase its live audience.

Ms Unsworth acknowledged last night that the leak of the announcement a week early had been “incredibly unfortunate”.

Asked if the job cuts would include managers too, she said: “It does mean fewer managers. The 450 jobs are coming out across the board.”

The meeting with staff took place as Boris Johnson denied in the Commons that the BBC was

“the mortal enemy” of the Conservative Party.

The Prime Minister is said to be considering decriminalising non-payment of the £154.50 licence fee, which last year brought in £3.6bn for the corporation. Such a move would reduce the withholding of payment from a criminal offence to a civil debt.

The Culture Secretary, Baroness Morgan, warned the BBC last week that it would be mistaken to believe the future of the licence fee was not an issue of public concern.

“It does come up on the doorsteps more and more – ‘Why do I pay my licence fee?’,” she said.

The National Union of Journalists, responding to what it called the “damaging” cuts in the news division, said decriminalisation would be “politicallymotivated” and “dressed up as concern for the mythical imprisonment of vulnerable members of society” – a claim made by several charities.

The union’s general secretary, Michelle Stanistreet, said: “We can all see which way the wind is blowing. The corporation faces a truly tough time.”

Tracy Brabin, the Batley and Spen MP who is Shadow Media Secretary, said the cuts would “send shockwaves around the corporation”, adding that the BBC was already challenged by “a low viewership among under-35s and working-class communities”.

The 450 jobs are coming out across the board.

Fran Unsworth, director of BBC news and current affairs.