Newsnight to be cut to 30 minutes as part of BBC cost reductions

Newsnight is to become a 30-minute programme as part of the BBC’s wider plans to make £500m of savings, the corporation has said.

As part of the changes announced by the BBC, an extended hour-long edition of BBC News at One will relocate to Salford, and BBC Breakfast, also broadcast from Salford, will be extended for an extra 15 minutes daily, the corporation said.

The corporation expects the changes to save £7.5m as part of the plan to save £500m.

More than half of Newsnight’s 60 jobs will be cut, with the corporation saying in a release that the programme would become a “30-minute interview, debate and discussion show”.

Deborah Turness, the BBC’s chief executive of news and current affairs, said: “Like many businesses, we are in a tough financial climate and as our audiences shift rapidly from TV to online news consumption, we need to make choices about where we allocate our resources.

“While TV and radio remain crucial to BBC News, we must invest in our digital platforms to ensure they are also the home of our very best journalism, and today’s package of measures will accelerate this transformation.”

Referring to the decision to cut the flagship BBC Two political programme to 30 minutes, she added: “Audiences have told us how much they value Newsnight as an iconic BBC debate and discussion programme, and we’ve listened to what they’ve said: we’ve made the decision to keep the programme on air five days a week, despite the financial challenges we face.

“We will offer more to audiences by investing to ensure the best investigative journalism and reporting is produced – and consumed – across the whole of BBC News.”