‘What is on the cards is astonishing’
‘What is on the cards is astonishing’
Big changes are planned for how the BBC delivers local news, TV and radio services and it's sent shockwaves through its newsrooms
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By Sarah Ward
“In 60 years, this is the biggest set of cutbacks that local radio has ever experienced. People are very upset, understandably.”
At the weekend, a leak to the Guardian, and a subsequent news piece, told thousands of BBC staff that their jobs were on the line.
The broadcaster confirmed the news the following day, and senior management held a series of zoom calls to its different local BBC newsrooms, setting out a new plan which would place many staff at risk of redundancy, others would have to reapply for their jobs or learn a new skill if they were to be given the opportunity of taking on a new role.
The corporation is to cut its local radio and TV service and increase its online offering, with new teams of investigative reporters and a focus on original journalism. It said the cuts nationally would see 48 jobs lost and £19m repositioned from broadcast to online and multi-media news.
In Northamptonshire, the proposals affect BBC Radio Northampton, which is based in the centre of the town, and the BBC Look East programme, which currently broadcasts its programmes from a base in Cambridge.
NN Journal has been told of tears on the Zoom calls and a general sense of shock and anger from staff.
There were more Zoom calls yesterday with a bit more detail, but it is clear the proposals will have an impact on the services that Northamptonshire viewers and listeners receive.
We look at the proposals and speak to current employees and former staff who have anonymously given us their thoughts on what the changes will mean.
Radio
The changes will see Radio Northampton broadcast original shows from 6am to 2pm and then there will be shared programmes across the region on weekdays from 2pm to 10pm and then an ‘all England’ show from 10pm and on Sunday afternoons and evenings.
NN Journal understands the news bulletins will remain with some local content throughout the day.
Every employee has been told they are at risk of redundancy and presenters will have to reapply for their jobs.
A local BBC employee told us:
“Radio (staff) are very demoralised. They are upset and shocked. In 60 years, this is the biggest set of cutbacks that local radio has ever experienced. People are very upset, understandably.”
One former employee told us:
“People who are friends and colleagues may end up fighting each other for positions, like some kind of strange reality show.”
Another former employee told us:
“Under these plans Northampton has a programme shared with the Midlands on weekdays - but with the East at weekends. Which is just bonkers.
“I can see the logic in sharing some shows - but what is on the cards is astonishing to my mind.”
One former staff member said changes needed to be made to BBC local radio as the current offering was ‘confused’.
They said:
“It has needed a root and branch review for a long time. I don’t think it knows what it is and I don’t think it has given a clear enough sense of what it is to the listener.
“I’m convinced it has always been insulated. It has not needed to justify budgets. Budgets are kept from the staff and then then at the end of the year if money was left over it would be lavished.
They said in recent years, like all BBC local radio, the station had been mimicking commercial radio shows such as those from Heart FM, but it did not fit with the BBC style.
“I just don’t know who that stuff is for. It has alienated some listeners, while others are clinging on to dear life to the radio, because they have always listened. But it is not attracting new listeners.”
Asked whether they think this could be the beginning of the end for BBC local radio they said:
“A lot of people do feel that way and have felt that way for a while.”
In the past few years the station has lost a number of long standing journalists through redundancy and has changed its format a few times, with the afternoon * since long serving.
Currently Annabel Amos hosts the breakfast show from 6am to 10am and long serving Bernie Keith has the mid morning to lunchtime slot from 10am to 2pm. Tim Wheeler has the 2pm to 6pm slot.
Television
Cutbacks to the Look East service were first announced in May and this week’s announcements have gone further. The Look East programme is somewhat confusingly split into an East and West service, with Northamptonshire’s programme aligning with news from the West of the region and coming from the BBC Cambridge offices. The East is news from Norwich and Suffolk. From December 16 the Cambridge operation will shut down with the Look East programme coming from Norwich.
The Cambridge TV and Online team will reduce from 38 roles to 24 to include three new investigation roles. Anyone who is at risk of redundancy will receive a letter from HR.
One staff member told us:
“The mood was really grim on Monday - there were tears on all the staff Zoom meetings when the cuts were announced.
“I think we were initially expecting it in August, then it was mid September and then October 31. The delay and uncertainty has been been really upsetting for some.”
Online
The changes will see a boost to the regional news websites. One staff member said they thought the move to online could see more original local journalism being provided.
“This is an experiment but you would like to think it has been pretty carefully thought through. The intention is that we do better stories.
“Online is getting more money and more staff. We are reorganising ourselves to be story-led.”
The shift towards online has been criticised by a number of local newspaper and online publishers. They claim the BBC will now be using its hefty resources to compete with local publishers and is overreaching its remit.
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Good comment from Barometer.
Don't know Borley-Cox. Remember Borley Rectory - is he from that haunted place? Didn't it burn down ?
Far too much of the bbc tax is wasted on extravagant TV show rubbish (and inflated salaries that rival those of the top dogs at Nationwide) that is better suited to commercial stations.
I don't listen to Local Radio and in the past the BBC was politically totally in awe of the big partys.
Perhaps some chickens are coming home to roost, bird flu permitting.
I do get my local news from this lot, as well as BBC EASTWEST and ITV, so it's another nail in the coffin of local democracy.
The BBC derives about 70pc of its income from the license fee and 30pc from commercial sources. Some of these commercial sources are fairly obvious, like renting out transmitter capacity to commercial stations. Others are much more opaque, such as the income from books, magazines and DVDs. Further others are a near-complete mystery, such as the income from the UKTV network, Britbox and, particularly, BBC America.
The government does have control over the license fee, but it does not tell the BBC how to spend its money and, to a large extent, the BBC doesn't tell us, the license fee payers, how it does that either. One of the biggest costs, however, is its enormous management structure. It is simply astonishing how many people are employed, particularly in inward-facing tasks that have nothing to do with either programme creation or income derivation.
The BBC is, of course, under pressure over the scale of the license fee, which many, quite rightly in my view, consider to be too high, and, again in my view, it was quite right of the Government to force a freeze in the scale of the fee. It is no surprise to BBC watchers, however, that the organisation has chosen to reflect its money shortage in cuts that have newsworthy public impact, such as local broadcasting (nobody told it to do this) rather than looking more critically at its commercial income and, of course, at the ways it administers itself and the scale of the operation that this represents. Managers do, of course, often protect themselves rather than the activities beneath them, but in this particular case, that habit seems to be taken to something of an extreme.
I would just say also that it is concerning that there are still individuals, like Martin Borley-Cox, outside the BBC but benefiting from it, who see a personal advantage in trying to defend the BBC by misleading the public in relation to the origin of these cuts. I also find it something of a shame that, in this article, he was quoted without question or criticism.