:00:00. > :00:08.chance to vote if you are eligible. `` you don't miss out on your chance
:00:09. > :00:16.to vote. Now it's time for Newswatch.
:00:17. > :00:21.Welcome to Newswatch. Coming up, the BBC has announced was ?15 million of
:00:22. > :00:26.cuts to its news budget. What effect will that have on the services it
:00:27. > :00:31.provides for its audiences? As a corporate director of news heralds a
:00:32. > :00:42.digital transformation, I will be asking him about the budget cuts. In
:00:43. > :00:45.these days of this territory, BBC News is by no means the first
:00:46. > :00:49.organisation in the country to have to deal with the big budget
:00:50. > :00:56.reduction, but how does it advocate its resources and in a fast changing
:00:57. > :01:01.media landscape, it is a matter of great controversy. The need for the
:01:02. > :01:06.BBC to save money is clear after the licence fee settlement made in 2010.
:01:07. > :01:13.There were suggestions that cap back news might cut a hole channel, but
:01:14. > :01:18.instead, savings will be found from job losses and efficiencies.
:01:19. > :01:24.Panorama will lose all those dedicated reporters. The BBC threes
:01:25. > :01:29.news bulletin will be scrapped and the BBC News Channel will switch
:01:30. > :01:48.from two news anchors to a single presenter. Well audiences suffer as
:01:49. > :01:58.a result Mr Mac? Daschle will audiences suffer as a result?
:01:59. > :02:08.Traditional TV and radio bulletins are not exactly on their last legs,
:02:09. > :02:12.although 5 million people watch BBC News at certain points of the day.
:02:13. > :02:35.Some people are not interested in the digital revolution.
:02:36. > :02:44.The BBC's started radio in this country and then television. The
:02:45. > :02:48.forefront of online news and now new technology means it can lead a
:02:49. > :02:52.fourth revolution in use, but if the audience ready for that and if that
:02:53. > :02:58.is a gain from this week's announcements, what are the losses?
:02:59. > :03:04.I have been speaking to James Hardie and Aston if he looked seriously at
:03:05. > :03:10.get reading an entire service channel rather than slicing lots of
:03:11. > :03:13.different budgets. Yes, we looked very seriously at that. We looked
:03:14. > :03:21.very seriously at that. We're talking about the BBC looking at 26%
:03:22. > :03:26.in its resources, nearly ?50 million out of BBC News. We did look at
:03:27. > :03:33.that, but when we looked at it, it was clear we would meet to small
:03:34. > :03:37.saving for too high a price for our viewers and listeners. To give you a
:03:38. > :03:41.sense of the scale, we could have taken out the real cost of the news
:03:42. > :03:48.channel, taking news out of five live, closed down for five language
:03:49. > :03:52.services, put an end to radio current affairs specials and read a
:03:53. > :03:56.number of other savings and all of that wouldn't have been sufficient
:03:57. > :04:02.to meet that ?40 million savings target. What will you achieved by
:04:03. > :04:13.doing it this way? What we have achieved is I hope that where we
:04:14. > :04:16.have money to invest, we are investing it, in original,
:04:17. > :04:26.distinctive journalism at the BBC, we keep on investing in local
:04:27. > :04:33.journalism and prepare for the digital transformation of news. A
:04:34. > :04:36.world where people don't just get their news on television and online,
:04:37. > :04:41.but increasingly in the power of their hand. After the Jimmy Savile
:04:42. > :04:52.scandal, the BBC had to rebuild its reputation. How does losing all the
:04:53. > :05:06.dedicated reporters from Kalorama do that M `` panorama. The fact is that
:05:07. > :05:11.we want to make sure we get the story from the people who have real
:05:12. > :05:17.expertise in those stories. Some of them exist in her newsrooms, some
:05:18. > :05:24.work outside the BBC. I don't think that Panorama's work, which is
:05:25. > :05:31.challenging reporting, that is going to change. If anything, it will be
:05:32. > :05:38.more enabled by these changes. If you look recently, we have had
:05:39. > :05:48.really powerful films. Just last week, you sort and in ``
:05:49. > :05:55.extraordinary brave correspondent explaining ices from the front line
:05:56. > :06:00.in Iraq, in Syria, in Turkey. I think those kinds of films are
:06:01. > :06:04.extremely important. We have seen it done at home as well. I think he
:06:05. > :06:14.will see more of that. On the news channel, viewers will get more
:06:15. > :06:18.cut`and`paste reports from agencies. If that is the case, we have not
:06:19. > :06:24.done a good enough job of explaining what we're doing. We're making
:06:25. > :06:28.changes that will the news more immediate and distinctive. For
:06:29. > :06:36.example, I'm extremely excited that Victoria Derbyshire will have our
:06:37. > :06:38.own show. Victoria has a singular ability to get to the issues that
:06:39. > :06:44.really matter in this country and she will be doing that on weekdays
:06:45. > :06:47.on the BBC News Channel. It is those kind of changes that will make the
:06:48. > :06:53.news even more meaningful to people watching at home. Growing audiences
:06:54. > :07:00.are watching the traditional bulletins. Viewers CV jeopardise
:07:01. > :07:06.that by putting the focus on digital content when these are quite early
:07:07. > :07:10.in development. We live in a world that is changing very rapidly in
:07:11. > :07:14.news, but nothing is more important than what we put out every day, the
:07:15. > :07:18.actual reporting at explanation of the news. Purists will wonder how
:07:19. > :07:21.the prestige programmes could possibly be made to the same
:07:22. > :07:27.standard on these much smaller budgets. That would be the case of
:07:28. > :07:30.we didn't understand quite how important those programmes are, and
:07:31. > :07:36.that is the reason we have gone out of our way to protect, and in some
:07:37. > :07:43.of the important flagship programmes, invest in them. You will
:07:44. > :07:49.see investment in a bit programme like Today. A number of politicians
:07:50. > :07:54.want to see the BBC made much smaller and the new service, which
:07:55. > :07:59.is the heart of the public service broadcasting remit, it can't go on
:08:00. > :08:05.at the same scale and size, it is going to have to get smaller. I
:08:06. > :08:11.previously worked in newspapers, I have only been here for a year. When
:08:12. > :08:16.I joined the BBC, people said to me I would find an organisation that
:08:17. > :08:21.an organisation that is extremely an organisation that is extremely
:08:22. > :08:25.clean and effective. If people watching thing about all the
:08:26. > :08:31.different ways they can get news, and they get that for just 7p a day.
:08:32. > :08:35.They get that without necessarily seeing all that is done
:08:36. > :08:41.internationally. The question was not about whether the BBC is lead
:08:42. > :08:45.now, it is about whether the BBC news department will have to get
:08:46. > :08:50.smaller. My understanding was you were saying that BBC News is going
:08:51. > :08:54.to have to keep on being cut. I would like to make the case the unit
:08:55. > :09:02.that is not true. I think we should be investing in BBC news, because it
:09:03. > :09:06.delivers an service. It instructed `` it is trusted and relied on by
:09:07. > :09:15.people in this country and around the world. An issue that has caused
:09:16. > :09:20.a lot of controversy is news coverage of events in Gaza. Viewers
:09:21. > :09:24.say they feel the coverage is hugely asymmetrical in favour of Israel,
:09:25. > :09:32.given the scale of casualties on the Palestinian side and that is not
:09:33. > :09:37.reflected by the BBC. That is what being `` that is what is being
:09:38. > :09:42.reported by the BBC every day. The reality is that we have, unlike most
:09:43. > :09:46.news organisations, made sure we have kept people both in Israel and
:09:47. > :09:54.working in Gaza. We have a whole team in Gaza and we report, not just
:09:55. > :09:58.the numbers, but the stories about what is happening. We have been
:09:59. > :10:04.really committed to getting out the story on the ground. In addition to
:10:05. > :10:08.that, we are always extremely keen to give context. It is not just
:10:09. > :10:14.about what is happening today, it is about explaining the frustrations
:10:15. > :10:19.that exist among people in Gaza and the concerns and anxieties of people
:10:20. > :10:23.who live in Israel, and to explain that context as well as reporting
:10:24. > :10:27.vividly and accurately what is happening on the ground. What would
:10:28. > :10:31.you say to the people who have been complaining? I think it is extremely
:10:32. > :10:37.important that people on all sides unable to voice their views on our
:10:38. > :10:47.coverage, and they do that to me directly. We referred to the protest
:10:48. > :10:51.on air and online, because the public needs to know there are
:10:52. > :10:56.strong feelings about this. We need to do everything we can to get the
:10:57. > :10:59.best coverage on the ground and get voices on`air that reflect the very
:11:00. > :11:07.different views around the issues in the Middle East. Thank you. Thank
:11:08. > :11:11.you for all your comments this week. If you want to share your comments
:11:12. > :11:26.on what's been said or any aspects of BBC News, you can call us or
:11:27. > :11:31.e`mail us. Catch up with previous editions of the programme at our
:11:32. > :11:36.website. That's all from us, we will be back to hear your thoughts about
:11:37. > :11:49.BBC News coverage again next week. Goodbye.
:11:50. > :11:51.Tonight, the thunderstorms maybe even