The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
today supported its affiliate in Great Britain, the
National Union of Journalists, in their on-going action at the BBC against cuts
in budget.
"We hoped that last year's talks with the BBC over pension cuts put an end
to tensions with the staff, but yesterday's announcement of new and massive
cuts in the BBC budget opened a new threat which will be firmly opposed by
unions," said EFJ President Arne König.
On 13 January, BBC Director General Mark Thompson announced that the
corporation will seek additional cost savings of 20 per cent - about £400m - by
the end of the recently negotiated licence fee settlement in April 2017.
These savings go beyond the target than the 16 per cent
cuts originally anticipated in the licence fee settlement negotiated with the
government in October, including funding the BBC World Service.
Among other measures, the BBC is expected to find savings
of 20 per cent in "output areas" such as programming and content and
25 per cent in online services.
NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear said:
"Mark Thompson has exposed the real impact of the
behind-closed-doors licence fee deal he did with the Government. BBC staff,
viewers and listeners will pay for that with massive job cuts and a serious
threat to BBC services. The NUJ will resist damaging cuts, service closures and
compulsory redundancies."
The EFJ brings its full support to journalists and
their union at the BBC. "The BBC cannot always play mouse and cat with the
unions by announcing new measures every second month,"
said König. "Journalism as a public good is threatened if a major public
broadcaster like the BBC is sacrifying quality content and workers' rights."
More information http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1880
The EFJ represents over
260,000 journalists in 30 countries.
For more information contact the EFJ at +32 2 235.2200
