Sunday, November 3, 2024

BBC cuts dozens of jobs as it spends £80m on new diversity drive

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The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) warned that the fresh round of cuts left the broadcaster in a “perilous state”.

Michelle Stanistreet, the NUJ general secretary, said: “Coming on the back of a painful cull across BBC Local, these latest cuts across its regions and nations will further hollow out local news provision at a time when resources are stretched to breaking point.”

A BBC spokesman said: “We have been clear that the significant funding pressures we face means that every division in the BBC needs to make savings. In July we said that we expected to see an overall reduction of around 500 BBC public service roles by March 2026.

“While challenging, we aim to make these savings – as far as is possible – through voluntary redundancy and we can confirm that we expect to deliver the changes without closing any major services. In addition, there will no programme changes or savings impacting on BBC Local Radio output.”

The latest cuts come as the BBC separately unveiled plans to invest £80m per year as part of a fresh diversity push.

Bosses said the investment was aimed at improving off-air representation in senior production roles and leadership within production companies, as well as on-air diversity.

The new commitments will also see the broadcaster increase its representation targets for ethnicity, disability and socio-economic diversity from 20pc to 25pc across all production roles.

The measures, which follow a review by the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, form part of a broader effort by the corporation to ensure its programming is “authentically reflective of audiences across the UK”.

The BBC has spent £243m on improving diversity and inclusion both on and off air over the last three years – more than double its original target.

The funding push has helped spawn a raft of successful shows, including Dreaming Whilst Black, Man Like Mobeen and We Might Regret This.

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