Dan Walker has spoken out after the BBC announced it is to cut 550 roles across the corporation’s News, Nations and Content divisions as part of the first phase of its plan to save £500m over the next three years.
The move will also see £80million stripped from commissioning spend across Content, News and Nations, while the BBC will also review broadcast TV channels and radio network portfolio as audiences move online.
Walker, who anchored BBC Breakfast for six years from 2016 to 2022 before leaving to become Channel 5’s news anchor, addressed the news on Thursday (17 June) and said he didn’t regret his decision to leave the corporation.
He wrote on social media: “I’ve had lots of messages from very worried former colleagues at the BBC. The corporation’s news operation is respected around the world but for many, this latest announcement about major cuts and job losses feels like the ‘managed decline’ of a trusted institution and a huge hit to morale.”
He added: “The direction of travel is one of reasons why, whenever I get asked if I miss the BBC, I say that I miss the people and I miss working with my friends. I do not miss the mess.”
BBC Breakfast is among the programmes set to be axed as part of the cuts and will no longer be shown on Sundays from September.
Also set to close during the next year are Radio 2’s The World Tonight, which is set to be replaced by a news bulletin and a simulcast of the World Service programme Newshour.
Other Radio 4 shows set to be axed are Midnight News, Money Box Live, AntiSocial, The Law Show and Crossing Continents
On the BBC World Service, The Inquiry, The Conversation and The Fifth Floor will also disappear by the end of the year.
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Other changes include Friday’s edition of Newsnight moving to a peak-time slot on BBC Two from September, and 5 Live Weekend Breakfast becoming a two-hour programme from April, while the production teams making Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and Newsnight will merge.
In an email to staff on Wednesday (17 June), new director-general Matt Brittin said the savings announced are aimed at delivering about £160m towards the corporation’s overall £500m savings target over the next three years, which will see a reduction to headcount of around 1,800 to 2,000 jobs.
Further savings across all divisions will be announced in the coming months, with around 700 corporate roles also expected to close.
Read more:
- Simon Schama: “Someone should be shouting out loud about how great the BBC is”
- Emily Maitlis: “I don’t see what protection a charter really gives the BBC”
- I used to be BBC One controller and these are 10 things the BBC must now do to survive
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Authors
Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.
