A former senior BBC Scotland journalist has warned that the station’s top names risk being axed and its channel scrapped as the broadcaster makes sweeping cuts.
Douglas Fraser, who was business and economy editor until leaving in March, said the corporation was planning to cut its nine presenters to seven.
And he claimed it will leave the best-known faces at BBC Scotland pitted against one another for their own jobs.
It has also emerged that one of the station’s most recognisable hosts, Anne McAlpine, left the broadcaster last week.
Writing on the online platform Substack, Mr Fraser said that ‘the ubiquitous Martin Geissler, radio veterans Gary Robertson and Hayley Millar, Fiona Stalker plus “all the Lauras”: Goodwin, Maciver, Maxwell and Miller’ were being considered for the axe, alongside BBC Hogmanay host Amy Irons, who announced her pregnancy earlier today.
The cuts, which will see around 60 posts scrapped in Scotland, are part of a cost-cutting exercise to lose around 10 per cent of staff, or 2,000 jobs, across the BBC.
Mr Fraser added: ‘Where I used to work, BBC Scotland, around 60 jobs are to go. Uncertainty is high: morale is low.
‘Head of news Howard Simpson is requiring the highest profile presenters to compete for their own jobs. Nine people are senior presenters at present. When the music stops, there will be seven seats left.’
Douglas Fraser, BBC Scotland’s former business and economics editor, warned over the cuts
Ms McAlpine – presenter of Landward, BBC Alba and a Reporting Scotland newsreader – left BBC Scotland last week after 14 years as part of the cost-cutting measures.
She is expected to retain some work including as the voice of Scotland’s Home Of The Year on a freelance basis.
In a statement she said: ‘After 14 years at BBC Scotland, I’m leaving my permanent role and heading into the next chapter with a huge amount of gratitude for the people, friendships, adventures and memories that have made it so special.
‘I’ve been incredibly lucky to have had such a varied career — from Eòrpa and An Là to Reporting Scotland and Landward, covering everything from elections and politics to sport, culture and rural life, and travelling to places I never imagined I’d find myself, from Chernobyl to the Calais jungle camp.
‘I’m hugely grateful to all the brilliant colleagues, contributors and audiences who have been part of the past 14 years. It’s been a blast, and I’m really excited to see what the next chapter brings.’
The future of the controversial BBC Scotland digital TV channel is also in doubt, with Mr Fraser becoming the latest to speculate that, along with BBC Three, it will be scrapped or moved online only.
He said Pacific Quay bosses could have attracted the younger audience they are seeking if they ‘were any good at marketing and promoting’ but speculated that ‘complacency’ or ‘arrogance’ were to blame for the failure.
He said: ‘BBC3 TV, aimed at younger adults, has moved from mainstream TV to online and back. Although a testbed for new programme ideas, it looks vulnerable once more. And it’s hard not to see the BBC Scotland channel in a similar light.’
Reporter and presenter Anne McAlpine has already left the broadcaster
Mr Fraser said the BBC risked ‘alienating’ its audience by trying to ‘move into the style of radio and TV news that commercial broadcasters do, and do better’.
He added: ‘Those hard-to-reach audiences may turn out to be unreachable, particularly the young.
‘They didn’t grow up with scheduled programmes on linear channels. Why would they seek out BBC programming now?
‘They might do so if BBC Scotland were any good at marketing and promoting what it does. But there’s complacency about that. Perhaps it’s arrogance.
‘I tried to change it, and failed.’
A BBC Scotland spokesman said it would not comment on ‘speculation’, adding: ‘BBC Scotland is making proportionate savings and a review across all of our departments is ongoing as part of the process.’
