RadioToday – with RCS
The BBC is proposing to close 382 job positions and end radio services around the world in Arabic, Persian, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Hindi, Bengali, Chinese, Indonesian, Tamil, and Urdu.
The proposals are part of a plan to move the BBC World Service to a digital-first service and are subject to consultation with staff and trade unions.
Director General Tim Davie previously announced World Service’s budget would be reduced by £30M as part of a digital-first BBC blueprint.
The BBC World Service will continue to operate in all the languages and countries where it is currently present, including the new languages added during its expansion in 2016. No language services will close.
Some TV and radio programmes will cease under the new plans including BBC Arabic radio and BBC Persian radio.
World Service English will continue to operate as 24 hour broadcast radio, available around the world. Some new scheduling, programmes and podcasts will be set out in due course by the BBC.
Director of BBC World Service Liliane Landor says: “The role of the BBC has never been more crucial worldwide. The BBC is trusted by hundreds of millions of people for fair and impartial news, especially in countries where this is in short supply. We help people in times of crisis. We will continue to bring the best journalism to audiences in English and more than 40 languages, as well as increasing the impact and influence of our journalism by making our stories go further.
“There is a compelling case for expanding our digital services across the World Service in order to better serve and connect with our audiences. The way audiences are accessing news and content is changing and the challenge of reaching and engaging people around the world with quality, trusted journalism is growing.”
The proposed changes to the World Service include (from the BBC press release):
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