Sweet shop

BBC Director of News James Harding is turning to salami-slicing to make cuts of £80m, after acknowledging that he needs to keep two tvnews channels going.

A new hair shirt has been issued to Head of Newsgathering, Jonathan Munro, for 26 years a nimble ITN ringfighter, now apparently struggling with the excess adipose tissue of BBC News after just two years in the job. According to the Telegraph, he addressed teams thus yesterday: “At the recent Brussels summit where David Cameron went for dinner, we sent 17 on-air broadcast journalists. It’s hard to argue that they were all generating distinctive content – it was a summit after all, taking place in one building, over a few hours; not a few days.”  And which department might have provided 17 accreditations, Jonathan ?

There's also to be less travel for Huw, Fiona and Sophie; the BBC Ten O'Clock News loves telling you that something is REALLY important by sending a newsreader to read links somewhere near where something has happened. To emphasise the point, they also interview BBC correspondents at this position, when they could be getting on with some real reporting. It's expensive, and there are other ways of imparting significance.

The Telegraph also says that local radio is lined up for cuts; it's skin and bone already, so if anyone has more detail, get in touch. The Newstream thingie better be good when it comes...