BBC staff to publish damning report on planned merger of news channels

theguardian.com:

The BBC’s plan to merge its two rolling news channels could suffer a setback this week when staff publish a damning report that claims the move will have a negative effect on news coverage across BBC radio, TV and online.

The corporation is also braced for the regulator, Ofcom, to make a key announcement about the proposal, while some charities have already aired their concerns.

In May, it was revealed that the BBC wants to combine the BBC News channel and its commercial global service, BBC World News, as part of a £500m cost-cutting and redistribution mission announced by the director general, Tim Davie, to create a “digital first” organisation. It seeks to achieve cuts of £285m a year necessitated by the government freezing the licence fee for two years.

The new channel will show news of interest to international and British audiences, with adverts only shown abroad and a UK “opt out” stream to cover big domestic stories, using reporters and a breaking news team, that will simulcast BBC Breakfast, BBC One bulletins and a televised version of Radio 5 live presenter Nicky Campbell’s show.

Sign up to First Edition

Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning

However, some staff claim the proposal to merge the £57m News channel next April will surprise licence-fee payers expecting their money to be used for rolling domestic news and drive people towards rivals including GB News and Rupert Murdoch’s talkTV. About 79% of UK adults watch TV news, according to Ofcom, but the BBC argues that young people are increasingly accessing stories via social media platforms such as TikTok.

They also argue that UK viewers will see fewer regional stories at a time when local