More job cuts announced as BBC radio stations combine further bulletins and programmes

More programme and news sharing is coming to BBC Asian Network and 5 Live as the BBC announces proposals to cut dozens of radio jobs across the newsrooms.

BBC Radio 5 Live will commission a new shared overnight programme with BBC local (rather than the current deal with BBC News), whilst BBC Asian Network will take news bulletins from Radio 1 at all times, and drop content from Drivetime.

The Ankur Desai show, 60 Minutes and Asian Network News Presents will cease, losing 18 jobs.

5 Live’s overnight show will be replaced with a reshaped show commissioned by 5 Live and produced by the BBC’s Nations and Local division, along with other team changes and sharing bulletins with Radio 2, losing eight jobs.

And the Radio Newsroom (which makes bulletins for 2,3,4,6 and World Service) to make one bulletin overnight not two (World Service bulletin to go out in UK), and Radio 4’s News Briefing at 5.30am will be dropped, losing five jobs.

Deborah Turness, CEO of the BBC News, announced today a proposal to close 185 roles and open 55 new ones – a net reduction of 130 posts. As a result of the changes in News, Media Operations is also proposing to close the equivalent of 25 posts.

Here’s the information as sent to staff:

BBC News proposals

There are three key principles that underpin our decision making: maximising the impact of our highest quality journalism across many platforms; streamlining our operations to duplicate less and work smarter; and investing to grow as we re-shape with the skills and roles we need to serve our audiences. Here is an overview of our proposals:

1. Reducing the overall amount of content we create

It’s relevant here to remind everyone that over two years ago the DG laid out a target for all BBC divisions to reduce content creation by 20 per cent. We are working towards that target and these measures will support our efforts:

• The commissioning team will empower editors to make earlier decisions so we waste less resource

• We will ensure that we resource stories where we know there is demand.

• This will be done by centralising control of London-based resourcing in Planning and Commissioning rather than where it currently sits in story teams

• We will be tougher on deciding what we do not cover and saying no to lower impact content

• We will also continue with existing initiatives to find new ways to tell stories and rely less on resource intensive TV packages

2. Making our On the Day newsdesk a single team

Under these proposals, the On The Day newsdesk will no longer be divided by Home and Foreign or Content and Live. We will move to a single, story-led structure and empower the desk to manage demand, reduce duplication, and prioritise live, digital and high impact journalism.

3. Expanding our live streaming operation

We will bring together the Live Streaming team with the News Channel breakout resources to build a single unit, dedicated to producing high quality streams available to all BBC News live outlets, seven days a week. This is a single solution that can work for many and will reduce demand on our newsdesks, story teams and colleagues on the ground. As we phase in this operation, we will work with all stakeholders to build this service.

4. Stopping some output and streamlining some production

Here we have had to make some hard decisions, informed by audience shifts, and how we now reach consumers on digital platforms with our high quality content.

• First, we will close the bespoke Asian Network News service and the station will instead take Newsbeat bulletins and commission a new locally made Current Affairs show.

• We will close HARDtalk as we focus on continuous live and breaking output on our News Channel, and do more to use and promote the high impact interviews and important conversations that are happening every day across our platforms.

• We will move production of the overnight programme on 5Live from News to the BBC’s Nations and Local teams.

• Domestic radio will take World Service summaries overnight.

• We will synchronise the production of Radio 5 Live and Radio 2 news bulletins to be more efficient.

5. Further developing our ‘follow the sun’ digital strategy

To deliver a better round the clock service we will increase the number of digital roles in time zones outside the UK, closing some roles in London and opening new positions in Sydney to enhance our morning offer.