EXCLUSIVE: BBC News chief Deborah Turnes is preparing to address thousands of her staff tomorrow to “share her new strategy for taking BBC News and Current Affairs into the future” amid widespread budget cuts and tough questions.
According to an internal email seen by Deadline, BBC News’ roughly 3,500 staff are being encouraged to attend tomorrow’s strategy meeting at 10:30 GMT (14:30 PST) as it is “the way we all work in the future, change will largely determine.”
“You have received your invitation to an All News call this Thursday 15 December at 10:30 GMT where our chief executive, Deborah Turnness, will present her new strategy to move BBC News and Current Affairs into the future direction,” it said. the email.
The speech will be former NBC International president Turness’ second major strategy speech since taking office in September – after he first used it to call for transparency in “tumultuous and divisive times” – and it comes at a time of struggle for one Secession that is forced. in £80m ($99m) cuts by the UK government.
This week, the BBC officially confirmed plans proposed in October to make around 380 world service jobs – around 16% – redundant as they move to a digital-first model. They will come into effect in the coming months and are expected to be finalized at the beginning of the next financial year.
Negotiations over those plans have taken place in recent weeks, partly over the decision to ask London teams covering regions such as Thailand, Korea, Vietnam and India to relocate to their respective regions.
A number of job advertisements for positions in those countries were uploaded earlier this week, but reporters expressed concern that the move, particularly to Vietnam and Thailand, posed a threat to press freedom. For example, due to Vietnam’s crackdown on press freedom, most of the BBC’s Vietnamese-speaking staff previously worked out of London, and these journalists must be based in Bangkok.
Sources told Deadline the plans have been a matter of ongoing concern for the past few weeks.
In a speech delivered externally last week, director-general Tim Davie said the BBC “needs more funding to support global service through further cuts and will discuss this with the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Offices”.
Turnes, who joined the BBC from ITN in September, is likely to face tough questions about this, along with wider government-imposed cuts to incoming local news.
Local radio was the last to be hit, with 48 layoffs announced as the team also engages in the digital-led strategy. Programs for both world service and local radio should be closed and merged.
Although the British government effectively imposed these cuts on the BBC, Britain’s new culture secretary, Michelle Donelan, criticized the BBC last week for not informing the government in advance. She urged the BBC to “engage constructively” with the Conservatives in planning mass redundancies.
Meanwhile, the much-criticized merger of the national and international news channel is being enforced and is still a constant topic of conversation within the division, he said.
All these issues create a difficult environment for Turnes, who has only been in office for three months but will seek to reassure thousands of staff that she has the situation under control, many of whom are on the verge of losing their jobs. to lose
Author: Max Goldbart
Source: Deadline
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