Daily Mail: BBC cuts over 100 jobs while bosses pledge £80m on diversity drive

Story from Daily Mail:

The BBC has announced plans to cut more than 100 jobs, despite pledging to spend tens of millions on a diversity drive.

The losses equate to 3% of the division’s staffing, reportedly in a bid to save money over the uncertainty of future funding.

However, this comes alongside another announcement from the broadcaster to invest £80million annually in creative diversity projects and raise representation targets in production teams from 20% to 25%.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has hit out at the broadcaster after hundreds of jobs were lost across BBC Local earlier this year, adding the further cuts are putting the BBC in a 'perilous state'.

Michelle Stanistreet, the NUJ general secretary, told the Telegraph: '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.'

The BBC's director-general Tim Davie said in July that the national broadcaster is looking to save another £200million.

A total of 500 cuts will be achieved by the end of March 2026, as bosses said the BBC faces a tough financial climate.

A BBC spokesperson 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.

'BBC Nations announced today that it expects to close up to 115 posts in editorial and production teams by next year as part of these plans. This represents around 3% of the division's staffing. A number of further redundancies are anticipated in the division's operations departments, but these will be shared directly with the teams affected first.

'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.'

A recent review by Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity into the company made a number of recommendations to the corporation over its diversity offerings.

The centre's recommendations included publishing annual intersectional analysis, 'urgent large-scale intervention' to create 'transformative inclusion' in the industry for people with disability, and the abolition of catch-all terms and vocabulary for ethnicity.

The BBC says its investment will aim to 'ensure that the stories told on-air are authentically reflective of audiences across the UK'.

Its £80 million investment will be spent on TV and radio projects, and will focus on 'aligning diverse on-air storytelling with stronger off-air representation' in senior production roles and leadership within production companies.

The corporation raising its representation targets will see it attempt to increase ethnicity, disability, and socio-economic diversity on-screen and off-screen.

The BBC has also published new Inclusive Production Principles to 'foster an inclusive culture on each and every production', which includes specialist hair and makeup stylists to work with afro textured hair and a variety of skin tones, and insuring its sets are accessible.

Charlotte Moore, BBC chief content officer, said: 'We are committed to backing British storytelling and I recognise the important role diverse-led indies play in telling these authentic stories.

'By increasing our investment in diverse content and enhancing our off-screen diversity targets, we aim to create a more inclusive environment that authentically represents and resonates with all audiences.'

The original diversity commitments saw £243 million invested over the last three years to drive diversity and inclusion both on and off air.

Research lead Panayiota Tsatsou, professor of media diversity at Birmingham City University (BCU) where the Sir Lenny Henry Centre is based, said: 'The report pulls together rich evidence and offers a series of recommendations that inform the BBC's future work on creative diversity.

'We believe this research creates a solid ground for future initiatives and conversations on media diversity that will make a difference to the industry.'