British state broadcaster the BBC is set to cut between 1,800 and 2,000 jobs – about 10% of its 21,500 workforce.
Interim Director General Rhodri Talfan Davies informed employees of the planned downsizing on Wednesday, citing “significant financial pressures... production inflation remains very high; our licence fee and commercial income is under pressure; and the global economy remains turbulent.”
A staffer reportedly told the Independent that the announcement was like “Hunger Games” where employees will have to compete with each other to keep their jobs.
The state-linked broadcaster faces a $10 billion lawsuit filed by US President Donald Trump who has accused its flagship news program Panorama of “intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring” a speech he delivered in January 2021 ahead of the US Capitol riot.
In relation to its coverage of Gaza, the BBC’s 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 that “no honest person” could have formed an opinion of bias based on the available facts.
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.
A 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 rampant sexual abuse of minors by pedophile entertainers Jimmy Saville and Stuart Hall over decades, apparently missed by the broadcaster’s management.
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.
Philippa Childs, head of broadcasting union Bectu, warned that the proposed cuts would be “devastating for the workforce” and the BBC itself, noting that employees are “already under significant pressure after previous redundancy rounds.” The reductions would be the largest since 2011.
Davies 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.