Cutting foreign correspondents risks BBC’s global reputation, says NUJ
The NUJ is calling on the BBC to reconsider its decision to cut dedicated foreign stringers (correspondents).
Reporters covering 13 capitals and the United Nations (UN) have been told that they are no longer required.
On 16 June, the freelance BBC correspondents in Geneva, the Balkans, Lisbon, Warsaw and Prague were informed that BBC News no longer requires their services from 1 August. This will effectively end BBC News regular coverage of 14 European countries: the entire Balkans, Czechia, Poland, Portugal, and Switzerland - including the UN.
The correspondents in question received only six weeks’ notice, despite many devoting decades of professional and tireless service to the corporation. The NUJ has questioned how these actions align with the BBC's stated values, particularly 'respect'. Each takes with them their own network of contacts in politics, sport, culture and public life. Each was the recognised face of the BBC in those countries.
Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, said:
“The BBC’s international news is the bedrock of its worldwide reputation. These cuts will irreparably damage coverage. Wielding the knife in this way is a grave disrespect to dedicated journalists who have given decades of their working lives to the corporation.
“Only minimal savings will result from this vandalism. These correspondents offer excellent value for money. Such brutal cuts also underline a fatal direction: from being ‘the world’s radio station’, ‘with more correspondents than any other’, and the ‘first reference point for a global audience of tens of millions’, the BBC will no longer have these experienced, knowledgeable eyes and ears on the ground. The corporation's leadership should reconsider this rash decision and the government should urgently intervene to maintain jobs and the BBC’s global reputation.”