THE presenter of an axed BBC show has spoken out after the corporation announced more cuts to its news output.
On Tuesday, the BBC laid out some £24 million in cuts – 4% of its total news budget – as part of an ongoing effort to “save” £700m every year by slashing back services and cutting hundreds of jobs.
Amid the programmes axed were HARDtalk, an in-depth interview programme which speaks to key figures across the globe, the Asian Network News service, and the tech show Click.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) called the BBC cuts an “an assault on journalism”, and the presenter of HARDtalk Stephen Sackur spoke out.
Sackur, who will be leaving the BBC, said the cuts were “depressing news” for both the corporation “and all who believe in the importance of independent, rigorous deeply-researched journalism”.
Sackur further highlighted that the news budget cuts were coming just one day after BBC director general Tim Davie warned of “unchallenged propaganda” being pumped out by massive Chinese and Russian media operations.
"In this context, the further retreat of the BBC World Service should be a cause for serious global concern,” Davie said.
Hitting out at the news cuts in that context, Sackur wrote: “BBC News has announced plans to close @BBCHARDtalk after three decades holding the world’s politicians and powerbrokers to account.
“At a time when disinformation and media manipulation are poisoning public discourse HARDtalk is unique – a long-form interview show with only one mission: to hold to account those who all too often avoid accountability in their own countries.
“Anyone who has seen our interviews with Hugo Chavez, Sergei Lavrov, Meles Zenawi, Lula, Nancy Pelosi, Recep Tayep Erdogan, Emmanuel Macron, Imran Khan, Olusegan Abasanjo, and countless others over the years will know HARDtalk was never just another news show.
“A brilliant team of producers and researchers is being disbanded just as BBC DG Tim Davie is trying to persuade the British Govt that the journalism of the BBC World Service is such a vital expression of democratic soft power that the taxpayer must fund it. Whatever the outcome of that, it seems it will be too late to save HARDtalk – for so long a pillar of the World Service schedule.”
After spelling out that he would be leaving the BBC in 2025, Sackur added: “My commitment to rigorous exploration of world affairs won’t change. I hope the BBC’s doesn’t either.”
On Tuesday, the BBC said it will cut a net of 130 jobs from its news and current affairs teams – losing 185 staff but opening 55 new positions.
A further 25 jobs would be cut from the media operations team.
In July, the bid to reach the figure saw director general Davie ask staff to take redundancy as he looked to cut a total of 500 jobs.
Deborah Turness, the chief executive of BBC News, said that the department "will remain very well resourced compared to our competitors".
