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The BBC today said it will cut 415 jobs from its news department as part of its ongoing austerity drive at the world’s largest public broadcaster.
Director of news, James Harding, said the move is part of 800-million pound efficiency savings required after the licence fee was frozen in 2010. The latest cuts are expected to save 48 million pounds per year.
“It will be a testing time of uncertainty and change,” Harding admitted to staff.
BBC News currently employs around 8,400 people, including around 5,000 journalists, based in London, around the UK and overseas.
He also set out plans to substantially restructure the news division and put the BBC at the forefront of producing news for the digital age using new technologies.
A total of 195 new posts will be created to fulfil this plan, meaning a net reduction of 220 full-time jobs overall.
The department made cuts of 140 posts in 2012-13 and another 75 last year, with around 200 jobs going from the BBC’s English regions, which also forms part of the division.
The latest announcement will fuel discontent among staff, who have already called a 12-hour strike for next week in a dispute over pay.
If the workers go ahead, the industrial action could affect coverage of the opening of the Commonwealth Games on July 23.
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