It’s probably a more palatable solution than axing it.
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I disagree. The BBC have form for doing this - messing with successful shows, be it for financial reasons, a new EP wanting to make their mark, or literally anything else - and it always ends badly. Look at what happened with Crimewatch, Top of the Pops, Watchdog, to name just three. All were messed with and all were axed. No, I think I’d rather Newsnight were allowed to die with dignity rather than letting it become another banal discussion show we can do without.
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Perhaps you. I was more speaking for the British public
I doubt axing the show would win BBC any fans
Better to just reallocate resources quietly where the same people
Can produce journalism that more people consume
But you said earlier it was ‘little-watched’. If it really is so poorly watched, then surely axing it wouldn’t matter?
It’s a national institution running 45 years. The press would have a field day if axed. It would be a PR disaster.
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That and the fact Newsnight has broken some of the biggest stories that might have otherwise gone unreported
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By rights, turning it into a cheap discussion show should be a PR disaster. @DJPizarro they’re not going to be breaking any stories under this new format. It’ll just be another pathetic Q&A type show where guests are chosen to start a row rather than provide any useful insight. It’ll be Newsnight in name only.
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The link above doesn’t work. Here’s one from The Guardian:
I must say, I think the producer’s response was WAY over the top:
Robert Coxwell, a photographer and journalist, wrote on X that he was the gallery producer for the show and said it was “regrettable” that someone had “found the need to amplify it”, adding that only two people on X had noticed but it “went largely ignored for 10 hours. Until someone went on to a BBC system, clipped it up and sent it out.”
Coxwell said it had been taken from an internal archive system called Autorot, adding: “Luckily Autorot provides a log of who did what because it triggers an email to say the clip they wanted is ready to be downloaded.”
He then tweeted: “I am so deep into the workings of Autorot I can’t tell you. Christmas could be coming early for someone!”
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Yikes, definitely indicative on how the standards of BBC News has fallen with this graphic…
(screenshot taken from Pres Cafe)
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Given how gutted BBC News has become, I’m perhaps surprised they still even have the Singapore studio. 
Was this a breaking news situation (eg. for one of the stories in Japan) that they ended up covering from there? I presume normally they’d fill that with a Newsday graphic… agree, it looks pretty horrible.
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Newsday is the Asian breakfast show, and Asia (particularly South and East Asia) has always been a big market for BBC World. I believe it’s also cheaper to do those hours from Singapore, as it’s the middle of the night in the UK, so they’d have to pay penalty rates otherwise.
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Jonathan Munro, BBC News’ deputy CEO and director of journalism, emailed colleagues on Wednesday to warn that significant funding has already been committed to elections, wars, and major sports events.
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They’re all among my favourite presenters at the BBC and their absences are truly noticed daily.
The Nine, BBC Scotland’s primetime newscast, is to be replaced by a half-hour bulletin at 7pm. Other news-related offerings on the channel, The Edit and Seven Days, are also canned.
More cuts disguised as ‘expansion of digital content’
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‘The Nine’ was rating abysmally. Just 6000 viewers at one point recently.
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If the ratings are not great then it’s a good thing to change it up a bit - but it definitely sounds like spin to say more cuts.
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