The British Broadcasting Corporation will cut about 2,000 jobs, or around 10 percent of its work force, as it faces growing financial pressure, the public broadcaster announced on Wednesday.
Rhodri Talfan Davies, the interim head of the BBC, said on one of its radio stations that the cutbacks would be “really difficult news” for staff members and audiences, and noted that the broadcaster would work over the next three or four months on “how we make those changes without damaging the services that we know are critical to the BBC across radio and television and online.”
It remains unclear which jobs will be affected, but Mr. Davies said that the corporation would give more details later this year about how its services would change. The broadcaster is trying to find 500 million pounds — or around $675 million — in savings over the next two years.
The cuts, the most significant at the broadcaster in years, add to the challenges at the BBC.
Matt Brittin, the former head of Google in Europe, is preparing to take over as director general of the BBC on May 18. His predecessor, Tim Davie, resigned in November after public criticism over a BBC documentary about President Trump, just one of several crises he had managed since he took the role in 2020.
The BBC is one of the world’s leading public broadcasters, with about 21,500 employees globally.
Philippa Childs, the head of Bectu, a union representing workers in the media and entertainment industries, said in a statement that the cuts would be “devastating for the work force and to the BBC as a whole.” She said that the spending cuts would damage the BBC’s “ability to deliver on its public mission.”
“At a time of fake news and an industry that is becoming more concentrated in the hands of a few multinational corporations, the U.K. needs a confident, ambitious and sustainably-funded BBC more than ever,” she said.
Megan Specia reports on Britain, Ireland and the Ukraine war for The Times. She is based in London.
The post BBC Announces Plan to Cut Around 2,000 Jobs appeared first on New York Times.
