bbc
Hague urged to spare World Service from axe
in brief... Asian network wins reprieve The BBC’s Asian Network digital radio station was reprieved after persistent campaigning and a large number of complaints about the closure which was announced last year. The reprieve follows the scrapping of plans to close 6 Music. But the corporation warned that the station needed to do more to secure its future in the long term.
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MPs ask Patten to look at workload Lord Patten, the new chair of the BBC Trust, has been asked by MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, to give up some outside interests to conduct his role ‘should that become necessary’. Economist Diane Coyle has been appointed vice chair. A former economics editor at the Independent, she is married to the BBC’s technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones.
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Johnston press appoints BBC Man Johnston Press has appointed the social media editor for BBC News as its head of digital content. Alex Gubbay has been responsible for the editorial integration of user-generated content and social media initiatives at the corporation. At Johnston Press he will be responsible for digital content strategy and develop the regional newspaper group’s news websites
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Former Today editor Marsh goes Kevin Marsh, the former editor of the Today programme, has left the BBC after 33 years. Marsh, who said that he was ‘resigned to a lifelong association with the Hutton inquiry’, was latterly editor of the BBC College of Journalism. He took voluntary redundancy. Multimedia chief Clifton leaves Pete Clifton, the BBC’s head of editorial development for multimedia journalism, has been made redundant as part of the 25 per cent cut in BBC Online’s budget. Clifton, one of the most senior executives to go in the cuts, had been at the BBC for 15 years.
Local radio plays a crucial role in keeping local communities informed
he NUJ and politicians are increasing the pressure on William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, to spare the BBC World Service from sweeping cuts that were announced early in the year. The NUJ is urging members to lobby their MPs and join campaigns on social media. In January the BBC said it was cutting 650 jobs from the World Service, closing five language services and scaling back others. Andrew Tyrie, Conservative MP for Chichester wrote to Mr Hague saying that the £28 million cuts ‘can and should be found from the Department for International Development budget’. He said this wouldn’t harm the Government’s commitment to increase aid because much of the World Service’s activity could be classed as worthy of aid under OECD rules. Denis MacShane, Labour MP for Rotherham, also wrote to Mr Hague, saying that the ‘core added value of Bush House is the community of foreign language experts’. Meanwhile the BBC is considering a range of dramatic cost-cutting measures including a massive scaling back of local radio services so that only breakfast and drive-time shows would be produced locally with all other programming coming from Radio 5 Live. BBC
staff fear this would mean the loss of at least 700 jobs and possible station closures. The NUJ has urged the BBC to ‘step back from the brink’ and protect the important role of local radio. General secretary Jeremy Dear said: “Local radio plays a crucial role in keeping local communities informed. These proposals would rip the heart out of local programming and effectively sound the death knell for local radio.” The corporation is also looking at scrapping overnight programmes on BBC1 and BBC2 and increasing the repeats of natural history shows and dramas repeated more often. It believes that about £150m a year could be saved if output between 10.35pm and 6am was cut on the main channels.
Pension deficit put at £1.6 billion
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he current pension deficit at the BBC is £1.6 billion, director general Mark Thompson has said following an actuarial revaluation. Last year during a dispute between the BBC and the
NUJ and Bectu over changes to the pension scheme, the BBC had said that it thought the deficit was £2 billion. Last June a letter was sent to staff warning that a 2009 interim valuation showed that the BBC’s pension
scheme’s deficit had increased from £470m in 2008 to around £2 billion. In November the NUJ staged a two-day strike, which took key programmes such as Newsnight and Radio 4’s Today programme off the
air, to prevent the erosion of pension terms. Mr Thompson said that the pension deficit will reduce to about £1.1 billion because of changes agreed with the broadcasting unions.
Report claims £80m is being ‘wasted’
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he BBC is wasting nearly £80m a year because poorly performing staff are being badly managed and thousands are wrongly receiving pay top-ups, according to an internal report. The report by the corporation’s
‘people department’ was made as part of the organisation’s drive to cut costs. It said that poorly performing staff were costing more than £50m a year and it recommended the creation of a new management
appraisal system based on conversations rather than paperwork. The report said that £28 million was paid in unpredictability allowances to staff whose work did not involve unpredictable hours.
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