By Kevin McCauley
The BBC is slicing its 185-member PR and communications staff 25 percent in an effort to cut costs by about $6M, according to a report in the Guardian.
Part of the Beeb's "delivering quality first" program, the cutbacks will lead to the sacking of 30 staffers and not filling 15 jobs when they become vacant.
The network begins a voluntary redundancy program on July 29. It runs through Sept. 2. The BBC will fire staffers in the event that not enough of them decided to leave on their own.
Julian Payne, told the Guardian that the Beeb's cutbacks will result in promoting fewer programs, radio shows and digital content.
"The aim being to keep promoting high quality programs to our audiences while also managing the huge volume of incoming media inquiries that we receive every week," he said.
Payne expects a great emphasis on cost-effective social media outreach to promote programming.
Ed Williams, who directed communications for the BBC, is not affected by the PR downsizing. He took a post at Edelman.
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