BBC to cut hundreds of jobs at World Service

BBC to cut hundreds of jobs at World Service

The public service broadcaster marks its centenary later this year
The public service broadcaster marks its centenary later this year. Photo: Ben STANSALL / AFP
Source: AFP

PAY ATTENTION: Сheck out news that is picked exactly for YOU ➡️ find “Recommended for you” block on the home page and enjoy!

Nearly 400 staff at BBC World Service will lose their jobs as part of a cost-cutting programme and move to digital platforms, the broadcaster announced on Thursday, paring down its Iranian-language service among others.

The BBC, which marks its centenary next month, said its international services needed to make savings of £28.5 million ($31 million) as part of wider reductions of £500 million, which unions blamed on the UK government.

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.

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 people.

Read also

Iran 'throttling' internet to limit protest footage: activists

But the corporation said audience habits were changing and more people were accessing news online, which along with a freeze on BBC funding and increased operating costs meant a move to "digital-first" made financial sense.

"Today's proposals entail a net total of around 382 post closures," the public service broadcaster said in an online statement.

PAY ATTENTION: Follow us on Instagram - get the most important news directly in your favourite app!

Eleven language services -- Azerbaijani, Brasil, Marathi, Mundo, Punjabi, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese -- are already digital only.

Under the restructuring 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.

Read also

Italy's far-right Meloni begins tricky government talks

The Thai service will move to Bangkok, the Korean service to Seoul and the Bangla service to Dhaka.

The "Focus on Africa" television bulletin will be broadcast from Nairobi, it added.

BBC World Service director Liliane Landor 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.

Government criticised

The head of the broadcasting union Bectu, Philippa Childs, 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, she added.

Read also

Exiled to Latvia, Russian free media defy Kremlin

Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries announced a freeze on the BBC licence fee in January
Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries announced a freeze on the BBC licence fee in January. Photo: - / PRU/AFP
Source: AFP

Bectu will push for staff to be redeployed where possible and to ensure it "mitigates the needs for any compulsory redundancies", Childs said.

BBC World Service is funded out of the UK licence fee -- currently £159 for a colour TV and payable by every household with a television set.

The BBC has faced repeated claims from right-wingers since the UK's divisive Brexit referendum in 2016 of political bias, and pushing a "woke", London-centric liberal agenda.

But it has faced similar accusations of political bias in favour of the right from the left.

The government announced a freeze on the licence fee in January, in what was seen by critics as an attempt to save the then-prime minister Boris Johnson's job.

At the time Johnson was facing mounting claims of wrongdoing in office, which ultimately forced him to resign.

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.

Read also

Cubans voting on a landmark liberalization of family code

Opposition parties however said the monthly payments -- equivalent to some £13.13 -- were small change compared to energy bill increases totalling thousands of pounds a year.

The culture secretary at the time, Johnson loyalist Nadine Dorries, had previously accused the BBC of "tokenism" in diversity hiring and elitist "group think" but denied wanting to dismantle the corporation.

New feature: Сheck out news that is picked for YOU ➡️ find “Recommended for you” block on the home page and enjoy!

Source: AFP

Authors:
AFP avatar

AFP AFP text, photo, graphic, audio or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. AFP news material may not be stored in whole or in part in a computer or otherwise except for personal and non-commercial use. AFP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any AFP news material or in transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages whatsoever. As a newswire service, AFP does not obtain releases from subjects, individuals, groups or entities contained in its photographs, videos, graphics or quoted in its texts. Further, no clearance is obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP material. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP material.