EXCLUSIVE:BBCNews has started the year with a sober reminder for staff: money will be tight.
We wont be able to back every idea or service every request.
The bar for discretionary spending will have to rise, at least for the next 12 months.
BBC News show ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’BBC
Lets not get disheartened by that its simple housekeeping.
One insider summed up the email like this: I think this means BBC News is skint.
Insiders feel ground down by the cuts and there is a feeling that BBC News is in perpetual contraction.
It never ends, said one source.
You get through it [a round of cuts] and then [it] starts all over again.
Munro remained upbeat, saying that the 2024 news cycle will play to our strengths.
Voting everywhereElections come round in all democracies, but never have the timings aligned like they do this year.
Some statisticians reckon half the worlds adults will vote in national polls, or their equivalents, in 2024.
Thats a lot of counting.
Pakistan, Mexico, Russia, Taiwan and even the Solomon Islands are also scheduled.
And there are more.
So that potential overlap is something well all be dealing with for the first time.
An emergency resupply of live pages will be needed.
Also on the wall chartIts not just elections.
And theres still a chance that Wales might join them.
Thats good news for football lovers.
Decision points aheadAll of 2024s huge stories will play to our strengths.
We have the journalists to report and analyse.
And we have the production and technical skills to do all of that with immense quality.
But, we also have a challenge.
Undoubtedly more of our cash is earmarked up front than in any year in recent times.
All of which means that we are going to need some patience.
We wont be able to back every idea or service every request.
The bar for discretionary spending will have to rise, at least for the next twelve months.
Working together to make our content travel further will be more important than ever.
Lets not get disheartened by that its simple housekeeping.
Happy New YearSo theres much to think about.
But none of us came into the news business to endure the quiet times.
This is a wall chart which news lovers will relish.
Fascinating events lie ahead, some of them deeply consequential.
