Image Source: TreeHugger

BY WEN YAN

 
Smaller staff, more repeats and less entertainment.
BBC announced it’s cutting around 2,000 jobs after being forced to accept a lower license fee by the UK government.

One of the network’s own employees says this will inevitably affect the quality of the programming.

Gerry Morrissey: "To actually say the viewers will not know the difference is untrue, there's gonna be a huge deterioration in quality. The BBC have been having a minimum of twenty percent deficiency saving each year for seven years now. You can't have that discount on it again."

Financial Times refers to BBC's move in 2005, when it cut more than 3,000 jobs. The Times says the critics are making it sound too serious.

"That move ... was heralded by trade unions as ‘the worst day in the BBC’s history ... that will lead to an irreversible decline in BBC standards.’ … Last month, the BBC produced a report citing the highest approval levels for its programming in its history, suggesting that viewers had noticed little by way of decline."

In contrast, The Guardian says this time BBC isn’t crying wolf, and the corporation has reached its limit.

One aspect, though, of the cutbacks is troubling. What happens next? Three or four years from now, the BBC has to go back to ministers for the next licence fee deal. If … there is not much fat left to cut, then the next time around there is a stark choice. Freeze the licence fee then, and a channel or an entire type of coverage – such as sport – will have to go.”

The BBC's director general told The Telegraph the network will be ready for the future.

Mark Thompson: "Being asked to make any savings is difficult but we're trying to do it in a way which protects quality and also makes sure you're not asking a particular area to do too much."

Since the BBC is publicly funded, a media analyst told Reuters the cut might give the network’s commercial rivals a better chance to compete.

BBC Shaves 2,000 Jobs, At What Cost?

October 7, 2011
(1:44)
BBC is to cut 2,000 jobs after being forced to accept a lower license fee.
   
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