Scrutiny has intensified over the proposal announced earlier this year to merge the British newscast and global commercial anchor BBC World News into a new, combined service called BBC News. The Guardian has learned that the Trades Union leader has written to BBC director-general Tim Davey to raise concerns that closing the existing BBC News channel would “significantly reduce newsgathering and airtime for domestic stories” and affect the democracy of the United Kingdom. It echoes fears of some BBC union members who took part in an advisory vote which resulted in a vote in favor of industrial action. According to sources, there was a strong turnout for the vote, which could now lead to a full vote – a potential threat to the BBC’s 100th anniversary coverage in October. The proposed closure of the BBC channel and the resulting loss of 70 jobs is part of a £500m cost-cutting and redistribution mission by Davie to create a “digital first” organization and meet the £285m a year cuts required by the government freezing license. remuneration for two years. Davey is due to visit the news channel’s staff on Friday, but company insiders are concerned that the general manager doesn’t understand the impact of the on-screen proposals. The new BBC News will deliver news for international and UK audiences, with overseas-only adverts and a UK “opt-out” feed to cover major domestic news, using reporters and a breaking news team, simulcasting the BBC Breakfast broadcasts, BBC One; Newsnight and a visual version of Radio 5 live presenter Nicky Campbell’s show. A BBC spokesman said: “Our teams are rightly proud of the work they do and times of change are always difficult, but we need to ensure better value for license fee payers and stop the duplication that currently exists with two parallel channels. “ But a spokesman claimed a senior BBC manager told staff there was “low ambition” for UK breaking news and questioned why, with management admitting channels are closing, regulator Ofcom is not stepping in. TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said in her letter to Davie: “News reporting is increasingly desk-based and news content is increasingly filled with guest interviews with a political agenda. The plans look likely to further these trends, with limited resources for sourcing stories from communities and workplaces, for investigative journalism and for specialist correspondents.’ He said the TUC “appreciates the pressures” the BBC is under due to the license fee freeze, but said “high-quality news coverage is at the heart of the BBC’s most important public service duties” and is “vital” to ” UK media quality [and] republic of the United Kingdom’. O’Grady also said the arrival of new rival services such as GB News and Rupert Murdoch’s Talk TV “makes it all the more important that the BBC continues to provide a national service of high quality, impartial reporting”. On Wednesday, GB News appeared to be preparing to fill domestic news gaps that could be left by the new BBC News, with a revamp of the daytime program to focus more on breaking news, with some presenters leaving and new GB Newsday programs and GB News Live.
