The BBC dismissed a report in the Daily Telegraph this morning, which claimed at least eight of Today's 16-strong team of news reporters have either been made redundant or moved elsewhere within the BBC.
The paper claimed the cuts were part of far-reaching changes designed to ensure that the corporation does not again find itself in a similar predicament it has with the Hutton Inquiry, where its editorial standards have been called into question.
A spokesman for the BBC said it would be ludicrous for the corporation to make cuts to its flagship programme. The 'Today' programme was at the heart of the Hutton Inquiry into the death of MoD man Dr David Kelly.
'Today' set the whole Hutton ball rolling when it first broadcast the story by Andrew Gilligan that accused the government of dishonesty in its claim that Saddam Hussein could unleash his weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes. The BBC has since admitted it should not have done this when it knew this was not the case and, damningly, Gilligan said he had made "slips of the tongue" in live broadcasts.
The story went out unscripted in an exchange between defence reporter Gilligan and presenter John Humphreys. It was not checked by lawyers and Richard Sambrook, the BBC's director of news, has admitted it should not have been broadcast as it was.
In a statement, the BBC said: "Two people out of a staff of more than 40 have taken voluntary redundancy. Any suggestion that large numbers of people are leaving the 'Today' programme is not true."
Lord Hutton's report into the death of Dr David Kelly will be published tomorrow January 28 but the government, the BBC and other interested parties will see the report today.
BBC sources told the paper that the restructuring reflected the fact that BBC director general Greg Dyke and Sambrook had lost the appetite for investigative journalism after a number of legal cases such as the Hutton Inquiry.
The BBC has come in for a range of criticism during the Hutton investigation, being accused of sloppy journalism and lax editorial guidelines.
Earlier this month the BBC chairman Gavyn Davies dismissed the idea that there was a need for a speedy shake-up of the corporation. The BBC chairman defended the BBC's system of self regulation and said that the sexing up of the weapons of mass destruction dossier was blown out of proportion by what he described as a "focused shorter-term attack" on the BBC by the Downing Street press office.
The unfounded talk about cuts to the 'Today' programme follow a ban on BBC reporters writing current affairs newspaper articles and columns.
It is unclear whether Gilligan will be allowed to return to the 'Today' programme after the Hutton report. Many see it as an unlikely event leading to speculation that Gilligan will write a book heaping more trouble on the BBC.
Dyke has since admitted that an inquiry should have been launched into the row rather than firing off at Number 10.
Dyke has been accused of "betting the farm" on the strength of Gilligan's flawed story, which led to Dr Kelly committing suicide after he was implicated by Gilligan in accusing the government of "sexing up" the dossier that Tony Blair used in part to help back the case for the war in Iraq.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
