{"id":54176,"date":"2022-09-29T10:01:45","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T14:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=54176"},"modified":"2022-09-29T10:01:45","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T14:01:45","slug":"the-guardian-hundreds-of-jobs-to-go-as-bbc-announces-world-service-cutbacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/09\/the-guardian-hundreds-of-jobs-to-go-as-bbc-announces-world-service-cutbacks\/","title":{"rendered":"The Guardian: “Hundreds of jobs to go as BBC announces World Service cutbacks”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>(Source: The Guardian<\/a> via Mark Hirst)<\/p>\n

Hundreds of jobs to go as BBC announces World Service cutbacks<\/a><\/h1>\n

Corporation to end production of radio output in 10 languages, including Chinese, Hindi and Arabic, as it blames licence fee freeze<\/p>\n

The BBC has announced deep cuts to its World Service output that will result in the loss of hundreds of jobs, saying it has been forced to act by the government\u2019s ongoing licence fee freeze.<\/p>\n

In a move that could weaken the UK\u2019s soft power around the world, the corporation will stop producing radio output in 10 languages, including Chinese, Hindi, and Arabic.<\/p>\n

BBC Persian will end its audio broadcasts aimed at Iran, with the announcement coming at a time when widespread protests are taking place in the country.<\/p>\n

There will also be a change in focus of the World Service\u2019s English-language radio output, with more time dedicated to live news and sports programming at the expense of standalone programmes.<\/p>\n

About 382 jobs will be lost as a result of the proposals, which the BBC said was required to make \u00a328.5m of annual savings. The broadcaster blamed years of below-inflation licence fee freezes imposed by the government, in addition to the rapidly increasing cost of producing programmes because of the state of the economy.<\/p>\n

Philippa Childs of the broadcasting union Bectu said she recognised the BBC needed to adapt to the digital era but that the government\u2019s licence fee freeze has \u201cpotential ramifications for the BBC\u2019s reputation globally\u201d.<\/p>\n

The World Service was traditionally funded directly by the government and was seen as a soft power tool that provided British news and information to hundreds of millions of people around the globe. This money largely dried up as part of George Osborne\u2019s austerity measures in 2010, when the bill for World Service operations was loaded on to domestic licence fee payers.<\/p>\n

Since then the BBC has had to go cap-in-hand to the government to seek extra funding to support specific World Service projects, with ministers providing around \u00a3400m in additional cash since 2016. However, there are doubts about how long these deals will continue. Earlier this year the BBC had to ask ministers for an emergency \u00a34m to keep its operations in Ukraine and Russia on air. [Continue reading at The Guardian…<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Source: The Guardian via Mark Hirst) Hundreds of jobs to go as BBC announces World Service cutbacks Corporation to end production of radio output in 10 languages, including Chinese, Hindi and Arabic, as it blames licence fee freeze The BBC has announced deep cuts to its World Service output that will result in the loss […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,43],"tags":[1438,327,352,424,5458,787],"class_list":["post-54176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-bbc-cuts","tag-bbc-world-service","tag-bbc-world-service-cuts","tag-bbcws-cuts","tag-mark-hirst","tag-the-guardian"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-e5O","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4708,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/bbc-world-service-to-make-further-cuts-in-third-phase-of-cost-cutting\/","url_meta":{"origin":54176,"position":0},"title":"BBC World Service to make further cuts in third phase of “savings”","author":"Thomas","date":"October 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Note that these cuts are a continuation of the overall\u00a0\u00a342m the BBC announced in January of 2011. Follow World Service cuts on the SWLing Post with the tag BBC World Service Cuts. (Source: The Guardian) A further 73 posts will be lost at the\u00a0BBC\u00a0World Service following its cut in funding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/BBC-WorldService.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9145,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/bbc-world-service-longevity-vs-commercialization\/","url_meta":{"origin":54176,"position":1},"title":"BBC World Service longevity vs. commercialization","author":"Thomas","date":"March 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Back in October 2010, we learned that the BBC would take over the cost of the World Service from the Foreign Office from April 2014. Shorty thereafter, the BBC World Service was dealt\u00a0a 20% budget cut\u00a0which eventually lead to the loss of 550 jobs. Now April 2014 is upon us.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"(Image source: BBC)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BBC-Headquarters-300x168.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":65311,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/tim-davie-warns-of-funding-cliff-for-the-bbc-world-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":54176,"position":2},"title":"Tim Davie Warns of Funding Cliff for the BBC World Service","author":"Thomas","date":"February 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Mark Hirst, who shares this Guardian article examining the future of the BBC World Service. In the piece, outgoing BBC Director-General Tim Davie warns that the World Service is approaching a serious funding cliff, with the current government support agreement set to expire and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Broadcasting"","block_context":{"text":"International Broadcasting","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/international-broadcasting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/BBC-eQSL-Card-2022.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/BBC-eQSL-Card-2022.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/BBC-eQSL-Card-2022.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/BBC-eQSL-Card-2022.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/BBC-eQSL-Card-2022.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1038,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/bbc-world-service-budget-cut-by-20\/","url_meta":{"origin":54176,"position":3},"title":"BBC World Service budget cut by 20%","author":"Thomas","date":"January 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a sad week for fans and listeners of the BBC World Service. According to news reports, the British Foreign Office has cut BBC's World Service budget by 20%, resulting in sweeping reductions in their shortwave service. As many as 650 jobs will be lost by 2014 and cancellation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/BBC-World-Service-Bush-Ho-007-300x180.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8821,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/bbc-world-service-to-further-reduce-shortwave\/","url_meta":{"origin":54176,"position":4},"title":"BBC World Service to further reduce shortwave","author":"Thomas","date":"February 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I appears the BBC World Service is cutting shortwave broadcasts even further in an attempt to meet tighter budget numbers. Not many details, at the moment, in terms of what language programs will suffer the most. Many thanks to Richard Cuff for the tip: (Source: The Guardian) The BBC World\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"(Image source: BBC)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BBC-Headquarters-300x168.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4799,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/guardian-bbc-world-service-asking-for-voluntary-redundancies\/","url_meta":{"origin":54176,"position":5},"title":"Guardian: BBC World Service asking for voluntary redundancies","author":"Thomas","date":"November 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: The Guardian) Corporation's global arm to close 73 editorial posts, but hopes to avoid compulsory layoffs as part of \u00a342m budget cuts The\u00a0BBC\u00a0World Service has urged all its network news journalists to consider voluntary redundancy as it aims to avoid compulsory layoffs as part of \u00a342m budget cuts. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/BBC-300x195.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54177,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54176\/revisions\/54177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}