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[Swprograms] The Guardian | Fury as 2,050 more BBC jobs go]
- Subject: [Swprograms] The Guardian | Fury as 2,050 more BBC jobs go]
- From: Daniel Say <say@xxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 19:18:11 -0800
More on the BBC cuts, which is not the
World Service but feeds into it as
the WS feeds into the BBC national.
[Media.guardian stories require registration
free and no mailbacks to read ]
----- Forwarded message from say@xxxxxx -----
Subject: Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Fury as 2,050 more BBC jobs go
X-URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1442949,00.html
Fury as 2,050 more BBC jobs go
Jason Deans
Tuesday March 22, 2005 [43]The Guardian
The BBC director general, Mark Thompson, has been accused of "ripping
the heart out of BBC programme making", as broadcasting unions reacted
with fury to his announcement of a further 2,050 job cuts yesterday.
The job losses, which amount to a 13% reduction in staffing levels
across production and broadcasting departments such as news, sport and
drama, were described as "absolutely murderous" by one union official.
Broadcasting unions will meet today to consider their formal response
to the latest round of BBC cutbacks, but are already threatening
industrial action if they lead to compulsory redundancies.
Jeremy Dear, National Union of Journalists general secretary, said:
"Mark Thompson is ripping the heart out of BBC programme making.
Today's figures simply do not add up. They fail to take proper regard
as to how money could be saved without axing jobs."
Luke Crawley, of the Broadcasting Entertainment Cine matograph and
Theatre Union, condemned the cuts as "absolutely murderous." He added:
"This is the worst day in the BBC's history."
The cuts announced yesterday by Mr Thompson will fall heaviest on the
BBC nations and regions, where 735 jobs are to be lost, and BBC News,
which is earmarked to lose 420 journalistic and administrative posts.
Yesterday's announcement comes two weeks after Mr Thompson unveiled
plans to cut 1,730 jobs from the BBC's professional services depart
ments, such as legal, human resources and marketing, bringing the
total to 3,780.
By the time the sell-offs of the Broadcast and Resources commercial
subsidiaries are complete, the reduction in the BBC staff will top
6,000.
Mr Thompson said these cutbacks, representing 19% of the BBC's UK
public service workforce, would help to create annual savings of ?355m
by 2008, which would be reinvested in new programming.
================
BBC cuts
21.03.2005: [47]BBC staff express outrage at 'murderous' cutbacks
21.03.2005: [48]Where the axe will fall in news
Full breakdown of job cuts ( Monday March 21, 2005 )
News interactive: 44 (11%)
News management support: 7 (18%)
News production facilities: 40 (16%)
Newsgathering: 100 (14%)
Political programmes: 10 (5%)
Radio current affairs: 16 (18%)
Radio news: 75 (14%)
Television current affairs: 37 (16%)
Television news: 86 (12% excluding BBC World)
(Figures in brackets show percentage of departmental workforce to be cut)
21.03.2005: [49]'Worst day in history of BBC'
Television 5.30pm
BBC staff express outrage at 'murderous' cutbacks
Jason Deans, John Plunkett and Julia Day
Monday March 21, 2005
[Picture Thompson: accused of making the lives of BBC employees miserable ]
The BBC director general Mark Thompson has been accused of
"ripping out the heart" of BBC programming as journalists
greet the news of job cuts in the newsroom with fury and
bewilderment.
Unions have already made veiled threats of industrial
action. "This is the worst day in the BBC's history," said
Bectu official Luke Crawley, who described the cuts to
programming departments as "absolutely murderous".
"The whole problem with the proposals is that the BBC is
just saying 'don't worry, we can all work smarter, so we
won't have to work harder'. But we're talking about job
cuts of 10-15% - 813 in the first year, 954 in the second -
and they won't be making fewer programmes, so it just means
a lot more work for people left behind," Mr Crawley said.
"I can't see how the BBC will deliver all Thompson's
promises about new services after ditching so many staff,
and life for those who survive is going to be miserable.
"We're not against an efficient, productive, BBC but many
of Thompson's proposals are going to make it worse, not
better, and that's what we'll be fighting against."
Just two months before a general election, more than 400
jobs are being lost from network news - and100 staff will
go from news-gathering alone.
Employees are lining up to question why so many journalists
- or researchers, administative and engineering staff who
provide journalistic support - are to go when the point of
the BBC's cost-savings initiative was to give money back to
making programmes.
"News has paid in blood in the last year - we have a dead
correspondent in Somalia [producer Kate Peyton who was shot
in February] and Frank Gardner [the security correspondent
who was left for dead after a drive-by shooting in Riyadh]
has been probably been crippled for life," said a senior
journalist.
"But there are huge savings to be made in bureaucracy. You
could machine-gun hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats,
like people in human resources and middle management, and
nobody would notice."
The NUJ general secretary, Jeremy Dear, warned the cuts
"put in jeopardy not only the licence fee but the future of
the BBC" and said the union would ballot staff for
industrial action if there were to be compulsory
redundancies.
He said there was "anger and bewilderment" among staff, who
were reeling at the contents of Mr Thompson's
announcement.
"The 20 per cent figure simply does not add up. You can't
continue to make the high quality programmes the BBC is
renowned for with cuts of 20 per cent, no matter what Mark
Thompson says," Mr Dear told BBC News 24.
"It is no way to protect the long-term future of the BBC.
The last thing we said [to Mark Thompson] was that we
wanted meaningful negotiations about the cuts but today we
were told they are non-negotiable. If it is non-negotiable
and there are any compulsory redundancies, then we will
ballot for strike action.
"We will see the quality of programmes go down, which will
put in jeopardy not only the licence fee but the future of
the BBC."
One veteran BBC staffer said people were "stunned" by
today's announcement and a senior journalist, who supported
the principle of efficiencies, said today's 15% cuts across
the board betrayed a weakness in Mr Thompson's leadership.
"The art of good management is to juggle priorities and
needs, and not just to impose across the board," said the
journalist.
"In business, good managers go department by department and
you end up saying 30% might go from this, but 5% might be
added to this. You just don't got 15% in every department
without assessing the consequences."
Another BBC newsroom insider said: "There's lots of anxiety
around. The bottom line is that 19% of BBC staff will go.
Put that way, it sounds pretty bloody awful. But I've
always been of the view that there were various bits of the
organisation that are quite bloated.
"The home side [of the newsroom] is going to have a much
tougher time than foreign. It seems there will be less
emphasis on TV bulletins having resources to make their
programmes distinctive.
"If there's a good feature on the Six [O'Clock News], run
it on the Ten as well - that didn't happen before.
Breakfast, the One [O'Clock News] and News 24 are going to
be encouraged to work much more as a block in terms of
commissioning."
BBC journalist turned politician Martin Bell agreed some
cuts were necessary but he feared Mr Thompson was going too
far.
"There has been an enormous incremental increase in news
staff over recent years. For instance, I used to work in
Washington alone and now there are eight there. Is it
reasonable for each news bulletin to have their own
Washington correspondent?" said Mr Bell.
'My fear is that they are not only cutting off their hands
but applying a hatchet to the bone and muscle as well. News
has increased its staff more than necessary, so some
entrenchment is needed. But if it is as much as this, I
don't know."
But Michael Brunson, ITN's former political editor and a
regular contributor to Simon Mayo's programme on BBC Radio
5 Live, said the cuts could improve the BBC News service.
"Frankly, I think a slightly leaner and slightly meaner BBC
will also be a better BBC News," he said.
Of the 420 job losses in news, not all are journalists and
admin staff. Forty employees will go from the news
production facilities - 16% of the department.
"One specific area - studio technicians - is being reduced
from 17 posts to seven, an area where they are already
stretched by working 200 hours a month to cover," one BBC
staffer pointed out.
==================
18.03.2005: [50]BBC axes 1,500 more jobs
14.03.2005: [51]The director's cuts: Mark Thompson interview
11.03.2005: [52]Unions seek answers after fresh BBC cuts
10.03.2005: [53]BBC axes 1,730 jobs for starters
01.03.2005: [54]BBC staff protest over cuts
25.02.2005: [55]BBC staff pay price for 'creative prize'
09.12.2004: [56]Staff fear for BBC TV Centre's future
07.12.2004: [57]5,000 jobs to go in BBC shakeup
07.12.2004: [58]Thompson aims to 'reconnect' BBC
07.12.2004: [59]The BBC's plans at a glance
07.12.2004: [60]BBC makes ?320m cuts
Licence fee and charter review
11.03.2005: [61]BBC's Constable to join Five as strategy chief
09.03.2005: [62]Jowell attacks BBC's 'predatory' tactics
03.03.2005: [63]BBC faces shakeup for digital age
03.03.2005: [64]BBC licence fee safe - at least until 2016
03.03.2005: [65]Plug pulled on endless repeats
03.03.2005: [66]Public service remit for new trust
02.03.2005: [67]BBC governors axed, licence fee to stay
02.03.2005: [68]Thompson unveils 'creative review' of BBC output
02.03.2005: [69]Ofcom may get more power over BBC
02.03.2005: [70]BBC's founding principles 'no longer enough'
02.03.2005: [71]BBC may have to sell more magazines
02.03.2005: [72]What the new BBC Trust will do
Reaction
02.03.2005: [73]Rivals welcome green paper
03.03.2005: [74]Praise and doubts from media experts
02.03.2005: [75]Tories dismiss 'cosmetic' BBC plans
03.03.2005: [76]What the papers say
Comment
03.03.2005: [77]Steve Hewlett: Auntie breathes a sigh of relief
02.03.2005: [78]Emily Bell: a victory of style over substance
03.03.2005: [79]Leader: Tried and tested
Run-up to green paper
02.03.2005: [80]BBC governors to be scrapped
25.02.2005: [81]Jowell beats Birt over BBC's future
08.02.2005: [82]BBC regulation 'flawed', says Ofcom
28.01.2005: [83]Scrap BBC governors, says Burns report
20.01.2005: [84]BBC self-regulation works, says Grade
20.07.2004: [85]Lord Burns' report at a glance
29.06.2004: [86]Building Public Value: the BBC's submission
Programming
02.03.2005: [87]Thompson unveils 'creative review' of BBC output
28.02.2005: [88]Stand up to protests, BBC director urges
20.01.2005: [89]BBC must have benchmarks of quality
20.01.2005: [90]Deliver or face the sack, controllers warned
BBC1 succession
16.03.2005: [91]Interviews begin for BBC1 controller
15.03.2005: [92]Heggessey: I did it my way
11.03.2005: [93]Tranter rules out top BBC1 role
25.02.2005: [94]Women top list for new BBC1 controller
Commercial activities
28.02.2005: [95]Pepsi executive to head up BBC marketing
13.01.2005: [96]New board to oversee BBC commercial empire
12.01.2005: [97]BBC's Eve finds a home at Haymarket
09.12.2004: [98]BBC under pressure to sell off commercial assets
Public service broadcasting review
03.11.2004: [99]Ofcom invites pitches for new public service
broadcaster
30.09.2004: [100]New public service TV channel to rival BBC
01.10.2004: [101]Maggie Brown: The simple truth: viewers love PSB
01.10.2004: [102]Steven Barnett: An imaginative first step
Mark Thompson's BBC
13.12.2004: [103]The quiet revolutionary: Mark Thompson
08.09.2004: [104]Interview: alliance not isolation
23.06.2004: [105]Thommo's intray
22.05.2004: [106]Canny diplomat who knows BBC inside and out
The new regime
15.07.2004: [107]BBC tightens editorial rules
23.06.2004: [108]Radical shakeup starts at BBC
22.06.2004: [109]Who's who in new-look BBC management
Comment and analysis
08.12.2004: [110]Maggie Brown: Thompson tries to answer big questions
08.12.2004: [111]Matt Wells: Thompson crashes Christmas party
08.12.2004: [112]Steve Hewlett: Auntie's best chance of surviving
intact
07.12.2004: [113]Jeremy Dear: Future of the BBC is now at stake
MediaGuardian.co.uk special report
[114]The BBC
_________________________________________________________________
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