BBC Chief “Incredibly Frustrated” After Job Cuts News Leaked To Press

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC‘s interim director general has said he is “incredibly frustrated” after news of 2,000 layoffs was leaked to the media before being communicated to staff.

Rhodri Talfan Davies told employees on Wednesday that the press briefings had “undermined” his plans to communicate the BBC’s £500M ($678M) savings strategy.

Many BBC employees were outraged by the leaks, venting their concerns in written questions during an all-staff call on Wednesday, when Talfan Davies set out the job cuts.

One insider pointed out that BBC News was reporting on the redundancy proposals before BBC employees had actually been informed internally, according to messages seen by Deadline.

“It has a bad impact on staff to be that low in the senior management priorities,” this person said. Another insider told Deadline: “Everyone is absolutely fuming.”

Responding to the anger, Talfan Davies told employees: “It is not right that information that is shared confidentially is then given out to news organizations. It’s incredibly frustrating.”

In audio from the all-staff meeting, obtained by Deadline, he added: “If you are briefing colleagues, and one colleague decides that they want to use the power of that information to share it with a journalist, I don’t know what you can do.

“It’s one of the frustrations I have with the BBC. We share information in confidence for a reason, not because we want to hoard it, but because we want the right people to hear it at the right time, and hear it first from their leaders. And these sorts of leaks undermine that.”

He said between 1,800 and 2,000 roles will go over the next two years, with more details to come from September, meaning staff face an anxious wait to find out where the axe will fall. The BBC will open a voluntary redundancy scheme, but compulsory layoffs are likely, Talfan Davies told staff.

The BBC also said it was implementing “immediate cost control measures” in areas including recruitment, travel and consultancy spend, and costs associated with awards and events.

In a graphic displayed during the internal call, the BBC said it would be “recruiting only for essential roles with robust approvals,” meaning a quasi-hiring freeze is now in place.

It comes after the BBC announced in February that it planned to slash its cost base by £500M over the next three years, expanding on an existing target worth £1.5B.