They argue it could cost the organisation more to source alternative footage than any savings made by cutting bulletins, The Guardian reports. Staff insist many of its programmes and news channels rely on BBC News for content. The merger is part of a £500million cost-cutting exercise and commentators have predicted up to 70 of the channels' 200 employees could be facing redundancies. The informal report, made by employees, looks into the proposed union of BBC News and BBC World News into a single 24-hour news channel next April. They added: “We remain totally committed to covering UK stories and to a 24-hour news channel which serves the needs of UK, as well as international, audiences, even better than we do now.BBC staff have compiled their own report into the planned merger of two of its news channels - suggesting it will have a damning impact on its news coverage across BBC TV, radio and online. Running one 24-hour channel, rather than two parallel channels, allows us to invest more in our ability to cover breaking news across the BBC.” Ofcom would not comment on their plans, but a spokesperson said it expected “the BBC to provide a breadth of local, regional national and UK-wide news, as well as international coverage”.Ī BBC spokesperson said the staff report was “anecdotal, contains no data analysis, and is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how BBC News operates and on the plans for the new channel. In addition, all the main BBC radio news programmes use News channel clips. They estimate that, in addition to the News channel’s 8 million to 10 million linear TV viewers, its content is heard, seen or read online by more than 25 million to 35 million people a week – more if footage used by local radio, regional television and iPlayer is counted.įurthermore, as one BBC News insider explained, “News channel content is invaluable” to BBC One’s 1pm, 6pm and 10pm bulletins, which sometimes “wouldn’t get pieces to air without the content the channel provides”, while BBC online uses News channel content “masses on UK stories”, but is often not credited. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. For more information see our Privacy Policy. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. However, a report put together by BBC News staff argues that with many other programmes and channels relying on the BBC News channel for content, it could cost the corporation more to replace the footage needed than the amount it will save by closing it. The interim director of BBC News, Jonathan Munro, responded in a letter seen by the Guardian that he understood “there are concerns … but … these proposals do represent the best value for the licence-fee payer as we invest in the most effective ways of reaching all audiences and build our resilience for the years ahead”. In addition, charities have expressed their fears to the BBC’s management. Staff, who are facing 70 redundancies, also want more details rather than the “engagement workshops”, “bespoke wellbeing sessions” and “‘in the moment’ telephone counselling” they were offered in an internal BBC email this week. The BBC must also “consider the effect” on competition to ensure that its commercial activities do not distort the market.Īccording to sources, Ofcom has sympathy with the BBC’s financial plight, but some at the regulator want the corporation to be more open about how the proposals will work in practice as they think they could materially change the channel. Under the regulator’s rules, if the corporation makes “a material change”, it must carry out a “public interest test” and then get Ofcom’s approval. Ofcom is due to make a statement this week about the proposed changes, which could delay the plans. They also argue that UK viewers will see fewer regional stories at a time when local newspapers are declining, and that merging the channels might muddy the waters between the BBC’s public service and commercial activities – concerns some politicians share and which the culture select committee will question Davie about next month. About 79% of UK adults watch TV news, according to Ofcom, but the BBC argues that young people are increasingly accessing stories via social media platforms such as TikTok. However, some staff claim the proposal to merge the £57m News channel next April will surprise licence-fee payers expecting their money to be used for rolling domestic news and drive people towards rivals including GB News and Rupert Murdoch’s talkTV.
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