The long-forecasted crisis has been worsened by a recent lawsuit from Donald Trump claiming editorial bias in the organisation<\/p>\n
British state broadcaster the BBC is set to cut between 1,800 and 2,000 jobs \u2013 about 10% of its 21,500 workforce.\u00a0
\nInterim Director General Rhodri Talfan Davies informed employees of the planned downsizing on Wednesday, citing\u00a0\u201csignificant financial pressures…\u00a0production inflation remains very high; our licence fee and commercial income is under pressure; and the global economy remains turbulent.\u201d
\nA staffer reportedly told the Independent that the announcement was like \u201cHunger Games\u201d where employees will have to compete with each other to keep their jobs.
\nThe state-linked broadcaster faces\u00a0a $10 billion lawsuit filed by US President Donald Trump who has accused its flagship news program Panorama of \u201cintentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring\u201d a speech he delivered in January 2021 ahead of the US Capitol riot.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Trump sues BBC for $10 billion<\/p>\n
In relation to its coverage of Gaza,\u00a0the BBC\u2019s senior online Middle East Editor Raffi Berg has faced a setback in a case he took against journalist Owen Jones, who accused him of political bias in online coverage of the ongoing atrocity. Berg must now prove\u00a0that \u201cno honest person\u201d could have formed an opinion of bias based on the available facts.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
BBC Middle East editor\u2019s \u2018Israeli propaganda\u2019 court case begins<\/p>\n
The organization has also faced a renewed series of scandals involving accusations of child sexual abuse by its staff. Last week, former employee Dylan Dawes was found guilty by Cardiff Crown Court of downloading more than 6,000 indecent images of children.
\nA government review and Freedom of Information requests have found that some 81 BBC staff have been accused of sexual misconduct since the 2013 revelations of\u00a0rampant sexual abuse of minors by pedophile entertainers Jimmy Saville and Stuart Hall over decades, apparently missed by the broadcaster\u2019s management.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Ex-BBC employee convicted on child porn charges<\/p>\n
The cuts come as the BBC negotiates with the government over its future funding. It received the equivalent of some $5 billion from a royal charter in 2025, an arrangement expected to be renewed in 2027.\u00a0
\nPhilippa Childs, head of broadcasting union Bectu, warned that the proposed cuts would be \u201cdevastating for the workforce\u201d and the BBC itself, noting that employees are \u201calready under significant pressure after previous redundancy rounds.\u201d The reductions would be the largest since 2011.
\nDavies will be replaced in mid-May by former Google executive Matt Brittin, whose media experience is limited to joining the board of The Guardian last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The long-forecasted crisis has been worsened by a recent lawsuit from Donald Trump claiming editorial bias in the organisation British state broadcaster the BBC is set to cut between 1,800…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t