UK Media Outlets BBC, Guardian Unveil Hundreds Of Job Cuts

Two major U.K. news outlets have unveiled significant job cuts in response to rising costs and the impact of the covid-19 pandemic.

The British Broadcasting Corporation said it will cut 70 jobs at its news division, with heavy losses expected at Radio 4 and in political programming.

These cuts will be in addition to the 450 job losses unveiled a few weeks ago at its various news departments.

BBC blamed the developments on a decline in income due to the covid-19 pandemic as well as license fee issues with the government.

The company has yet to determine precisely where the job cuts will occur.

“This [pandemic] crisis has led us to reevaluate exactly how we operate as an organization. And our operation has been underpinned by the principles we set out earlier this year: fewer stories, more targeted and with more impact,” said BBC’s director of news, Fran Unsworth. "If we don't make changes, we won't be sustainable.”

Last week, BBC also announced hundreds of job cuts at its regional offices, particularly in Birmingham.

The Guardian newspaper also announced plans to cut 180 jobs, including 70 from its news editorial teams.

The newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, and the Annette Thomas, chief executive of parent corporation Guardian Media Group, jointly said the pandemic had led to an “unsustainable financial outlook for the Guardian” with revenues expected to fall by more than £25 million ($31.5 million) this year.

They added that Guardian Media Group was facing “unsustainable annual losses in future years unless we take decisive action” to cut costs.

Viner and Thomas also assured the Guardian will not adopt a paywall model and remain a free paper

“Despite the pressures that coronavirus has placed on our business, our unique reader relationship model has proved successful, and the strategy of the past few years has been the right one,” they stated.