BBC journalists take up 8216;Gandhigiri8217; to protest changes

The journalists, backed by the National Union of Journalists, have launched a campaign to protest against off-shoring of programming to the Indian sub-continent in what is described as a 8220;money-saving adventure8221; of the BBC management.

The journalists alleged that BBC was compromising its standards and professional integrity by entering into agreements with governments and subsidiary companies in the Indian sub-continent.

Nearly 60 south Asian journalists gathered at the event, which was addressed by Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary. The NUJ, he said, would turn the protest into a national campaign across Britain.

Dear said: 8220;We are committed to opposing these off-shoring plans which are ill-founded and put at threat not just jobs but editorial quality, integrity and the future of the World Service.

8220;You can dress up the changes any way you like 8211; when stripped bare it means more work from fewer staff, more work for less money and an apparent willingness to undermine editorial integrity. This shows a blatant disregard of agreements with staff and unions.

8220;The BBC8217;s behaviour would cause a national scandal if its domestic staff were being treated this way.8221;

Defending the plans to move staff to their countries of origin in south Asia, the BBC said it had plans to have around 50 per cent of overall language service staff located closer to their audiences.

Mike Gardner, Head of Media Relations at the BBC World Service, said that the BBC management was in discussions with staff and unions about the changes.

8220;The proposed redeployments of staff to India, Pakistan and Nepal recognise the new media realities in those countries. It has been BBC World Service8217;s policy for its language services to be working closer to the audiences they serve for some time,8221; he said.

The off-shoring involves new contracts for the London-based journalists who have been told to accept redundancy or relocate to their countries of origin in south Asia, and accept downgraded pay conditions.

Indian and other south Asian BBC journalists said that the redeployment would 8220;dismantle a broadcasting service that is the envy of the world8221;. They added that it would affect their working and the lives of their families.

Dear said: 8220;Today8217;s protest showed the scale of the anger there is across the BBC at these cost-cutting plans.

8220;We have shown we are committed to defending quality journalism, defending the world service and standing up for justice in the face of the BBC8217;s blatant disregard for staff welfare and editorial integrity.

8220;Today is just the beginning of a major campaign which will expose BBC attempts to do journalism on the cheap and compromise the integrity of BBC journalism. BBC staff deserve to be treated better8221;.

The BBC World Service began as the BBC Empire Service in 1932. It started its first south Asia division before India8217;s independence when the Hindi service was launched in May 1940. Bengali service started in 1941 and Urdu in 1949.