Today’s MediaWireWorld roundup of journalism news from outside the U.S. Send tips to Kristen Hare: khare@poynter.org
United Kingdom
The BBC will cut “between 475 and 500 jobs from its News division,” Neil Midgley reported Tuesday in Forbes. Another 75 or so cuts are planned for its U.K. radio operation, he says.
The cuts represent just over 6 per cent – about one in 16 – of the entire headcount in News, which currently employs around 8,000 people. The jobs will go over the next two years.
The announcement could easily herald another autumn of industrial unrest at the BBC, whose staff are highly unionised – the two biggest unions there are the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union (Bectu). The unions have already said that this year’s pay offer from the BBC – a below-inflation 1 per cent, subject to a minimum of £390 per year for lower paid staff – is ‘completely unacceptable’.
Pakistan
Zafar Aaheer, a newspaper editor in Pakistan, was beaten up Sunday after leaving the newspaper’s offices, Roy Greenslade reported in The Guardian Wednesday. Aaheer edits Jang, a popular Urdu-language newspaper.
The paper is owned by the Jang group, which also owns the country’s widely watched Geo TV, which is currently at odds with elements of the military.
The day after Aaheer was assaulted, a vehicle carrying copies of the Daily Jang was set on fire in Karachi. It followed similar attacks in Rawalpindi and Lahore.
Australia
Now that’s a fitting headline from The West Australian, in Perth, Australia. It’s also a fitting photo, with that bloody idiot in a Teletubby get up. (Front page courtesy the Newseum.)
