BBC shedding up to 2,000 jobs under the strain of ‘significant financial pressures’

Facing 'significant financial pressures,' the BBC said it will cut up to 2,000 jobs, its biggest purge in 15 years. Photo by Susannah Ireland /AFP/File

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The British Broadcasting Corporation said on Wednesday that it is set to cut up to 2,000 jobs amid a challenging media landscape.

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The BBC’s interim director-general Rhodri Talfan Davies said in a statement to staff that “while we still have to work through the detail, we anticipate the overall number of jobs will fall by 1,800-2,000.”

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The BBC reported the cuts on Wednesday afternoon, saying they amount to “almost one in 10” jobs, since it has about 21,500 employees.

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The acting director-general said in a message to staff, sent to AFP, that this was because the BBC faces “significant financial pressures, which we need to respond to at pace.”

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“Put simply, the gap between our costs and our income is growing,” said Talfan Davies, who has taken on the role temporarily.

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“Inevitably, these plans will also mean reducing the number of jobs in the BBC,” he added in a message that he said followed an all-staff call.

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The BBC has to cut £500 million (CAD$961 million) from its operating costs of £5 billion ($9.3 billion) “over the next two years,” the director-general said.

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The BBC had previously said it has to find ways to shave 10 percent off its costs over the next three years.

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‘Devastating’ for staff

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The job cuts will be the biggest round of redundancies at the broadcasting corporation in almost 15 years, ITV News and The Press Association (PA) news agency reported.

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In 2011, the BBC announced it would cut 2,000 jobs over the next five years and relocate some staff away from London.

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Talfan Davies told BBC radio, “there are going to be some big and some difficult choices.”

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The head of the Bectu union for media workers, Philippa Childs, said “cuts of this magnitude will be devastating for the workforce and to the BBC as a whole.”

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The general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, Laura Davison, condemned the cuts, which she said were “wrong, damaging and will cause uncertainty and distress for workers at the BBC.”

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The job losses come as the BBC faces a turbulent media landscape, affected by AI and changing consumer habits.

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The BBC is funded by the public paying for a licence to view live content. It says 94 percent of U.K. adults use its services every month.

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In a report in March, the BBC said its income from the licence fee had fallen 24 percent in real terms since 2017.

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“We must reduce our total cost base by a further 10% by March 2029 due to licence fee headwinds and other pressures,” the report said, warning “tough choices may require cuts to content and services”.

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U.S. President Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the broadcaster over a documentary that edited his 2021 speech ahead of the U.S. Capitol riot, making it appear he explicitly urged supporters to attack the seat of Congress.