News: BBC cuts 450 regional jobs

Employee Relations

BBC cuts 450 regional jobs

The BBC is to cut 450 jobs in its English regional TV news and current affairs, local radio and online news.
BBC cuts 450 regional jobs

The BBC said it will axe 450 regional jobs in England as it seeks to cut costs and shake up its local radio stations and TV news.

Seven of the 20 presenters on 6.30 pm regional TV bulletins will be cut, and some local radio shows will be axed.

Inside Out will be replaced by a new investigative journalism program, which will have six regional editions instead of the previous 11.

The cuts are expected to save £25m by 2022, and follow news of job losses in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The BBC has previously said it must save £125m this year because of financial pressures resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 150 roles are due to be lost in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the corporation announced in June.

The proposed cuts are on top of the 450 redundancies previously announced - and subsequently put on hold - by BBC News.

Helen Thomas, the director of BBC England, said: We're going to modernize our offer to audiences in England by making digital a central part of everything we do. We'll take forward lessons from Covid-19 that will make us more agile and more in touch with communities while also ensuring we're as efficient as we can be.’’

Michelle Stanistreet, General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said: "These are huge cuts which will inevitably have an impact on the BBC's ability to sustain the breadth and depth of news coverage throughout England which truly reflects the diversity of the nation."

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Topics: Employee Relations, #COVID-19

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