The proposed merging of two of the BBC’s news channels has been the subject of an internal assessment by the BBC employees, which contends that it will have a detrimental effect on how the BBC covers news on TV, radio, and online.
The employee-made informal paper examines the idea of combining BBC News and BBC World News into a single 24-hour news channel in April.
The merger is a part of a £500 million cost-cutting initiative, and some have estimated that up to 70 of the 200 staff of the channels may face layoffs.
The staff claims that BBC News is a major source of material for many of its programs and news channels. According to them, the organization may spend more on alternative footage than it would have by eliminating the bulletins.
The BBC News Channel has between eight and ten million linear television viewers, according to an insiders’ study that will be released this week. If consumers discover that their license money isn’t being used to sustain rolling news, they may switch to competitors GB News and Rupert Murdoch’s talkTV.
The study was criticized by the BBC as being “anecdotal,” lacking in “data analysis,” and “based on a basic misunderstanding of how BBC News functions.”
Between 25 and 35 million people watch BBC News material on iPlayer, regional television, and radio.
Insider quote: “News channel programming is important [to BBC One’s 1pm, 6pm, and 10pm bulletins], which sometimes wouldn’t have things to broadcast.”
They noted that News channel footage are used in every BBC radio news program. A significant statement about the merger is expected from broadcasting regulator Ofcom in the coming days.
A consultative vote was initiated by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) asking members whether they would support a strike after it was revealed last week that staff members were threatening to walk out in protest of the planned merger.
The union might utilize the threat of a vote during talks on combining the two channels if the majority approves a strike.
The general secretary of the NUJ, Michelle Stanistreet, stated: “We appreciate the BBC is in a difficult position after year-over-year cutbacks and the freezing of the licence fee, but we cannot accept a decision that will have a significant influence on the news given. The BBC News Channel plays a unique and significant function; Tim Davie, director general of the BBC, must intervene and undo this scheme.
Director General Tim Davie announced the changes to the BBC’s programs and services in May. According to the BBC, the first phase of the adjustments would save £500 million.
After Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said the licence charge will be fixed for the next two years and eliminated by 2027, the company now needs to save an extra £285 million.
Over the next five years, the BBC stated it would eliminate up to 1,000 employees from its publicly-funded division as part of its aim to become a “digital first” broadcaster.
The BBC Sounds service may become the sole place to get Radio 4 Extra while BBC Four and CBBC are anticipated to go online to the iPlayer.
One of the services being eliminated as part of the “blueprint to construct a digital-first public service media organization” is the regional TV news programs South Today in Oxford and Look East in Cambridge.
In response to worries from lawmakers, Davie is scheduled to go before the House of Commons Culture Select Committee the following month to examine the prospects.
According to a representative of Ofcom, “the BBC will deliver a range of local, regional, national, and UK-wide news, as well as worldwide coverage,” according to The Guardian.
‘This claim is anecdotal, has no statistical analysis, and is based on a basic misunderstanding of how BBC News functions and on the plans for the new channel,’ a BBC spokeswoman said. Instead of running two concurrent channels, we can spend more in improving our capacity to cover breaking news throughout the BBC by operating one 24-hour channel.
Our staff are justifiably proud of the excellent job they are doing, but we must make adjustments to guarantee that license fee payers get greater value.
“We are fully dedicated to covering UK issues and to a 24-hour news channel that even better suits the interests of UK, as well as worldwide, consumers.”