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Updated Exclusive: Five senior female BBC News channel presenters have commenced legal action against the British broadcaster after a prolonged spell on the sidelines.

Earlier on Thursday, Deadline reported that Martine Croxall was taking the BBC to an employment tribunal, according to a listing for a two-day hearing at London Central on May 1.

Martine Croxall is the listed litigant, but multiple sources said Karin Giannone, Geeta Guru-Murthy, Kasia Madera, and Annita McVeigh are parties to the case. The presenters have been off air for over a year, though Guru-Murthy and McVeigh recently returned to the news channel.

It is the highest-profile tribunal faced by the BBC since the corporation lost a landmark gender pay battle with Newswatch host Samira Ahmed in 2020.

Details of the case against the BBC are not in the public domain, but the tribunal listing makes clear that the complaint involves issues including age and sex discrimination,...

Exclusive: A BBC internal investigation has found that star presenters on its relaunched news channel were not promised their jobs before an open recruitment process.

Matthew Amroliwala, Christian Fraser, Yalda Hakim, Lucy Hockings, and Maryam Moshiri were announced in February as the chief presenters of BBC News, but unsuccessful candidates complained that managers decided on the line-up last year before allowing people to apply.

Daryl Maitland, head of Hr at production arm BBC Studios, was brought in to investigate the recruitment process. He delivered his report this week, concluding that the BBC was fair to the 15 presenters who applied for the five roles, which command salaries of up to £230,000.

He did not support claims that the five successful presenters were pre-selected because they were already familiar to international audiences on BBC World News.

Maitland is said to have reached this conclusion despite hearing evidence from a so-called “whistleblower” among the five presenters,...

Exclusive: The BBC is facing growing pressure to find a resolution for five seasoned female presenters, many of whom have been unable to work for months amid a merger of the corporation’s UK and international news channels.

The women have not presented on the BBC News channel since March and some have been at home against their wishes as the broadcaster establishes the structure of its slimmed-down rolling news operation.

The five anchors impacted are Martine Croxall, Karin Giannone, Geeta Guru-Murthy, Kasia Madera, and Annita McVeigh. Between them, they have more than 100 years of experience working at the BBC.

Deadline understands that there is currently no clear resolution to the impasse, but colleagues are increasingly angry about the BBC’s treatment of the women.

The BBC is also facing questions about how much money it is wasting while the senior anchors sit on the bench, with some estimating that...

Exclusive: BBC News will make sweeping changes to its news channel presenting line-up from next week, with a number of seasoned anchors dropping off air.

The British broadcaster is merging its UK and World News stations into a single channel, with changes gradually being introduced from April 3.

Audiences are unlikely to notice a “big bang” overhaul, but one of the most notable differences will be the channel’s presenter lineup.

Newsroom sources also expect BBC management to rethink plans to reduce UK news amid fears that the merger could dilute domestic output and damage viewing figures. The BBC said the channel always planned to carry UK news for local viewers.

From next week, five journalists will take up Chief Presenter roles, including Matthew Amroliwala, Yalda Hakim, Christian Fraser, Lucy Hockings, and Maryam Moshiri.

A further 10 UK-based presenters were unsuccessful in applying for these roles, and Deadline hears that many have...

Exclusive: BBC News presenters have been told that they can relax their formal dress code in the pursuit of more authentic reporting as the broadcaster seeks to reinvent its 24-hour news channel.

Naja Nielsen, BBC News’ Director of Digital, told staff last week that the more rugged “sweaty and dirty” look certain journalists adopt when away from the studio can be more trustworthy.

Nielsen was speaking as the BBC steps up plans to merge BBC World News with its domestic news channel in an effort to cut costs and make its rolling news output more appealing to online audiences. Managers argue it is a chance to create the best news channel in the world.

Nielsen told a wide group of journalists: “It’s a bit like, be as sweaty and dirty as when we’re in the field is actually more trustworthy than if we look like we’ve just...

Exclusive: The BBC has told 10 of its most seasoned news anchors that they have lost their prestige presenting roles on the broadcaster’s rolling news channel.

Deadline can reveal that journalists including Jane Hill, Martine Croxall, and Ben Brown were informed yesterday that they will not be among the chief presenters on a relaunched BBC News channel.

The BBC is combining its international and domestic news channels into a single offering as the corporation bids to cut costs and reinvent its output for a digital age.

The merger has been rumbling on for months, but in a single day 10 presenters were effectively told that their services are not required when the merged channel launches around April. Jess Brammar, editor of the news channels, phoned around presenters to deliver the news.

Annita McVeigh, Geeta Guru-Murthy, and Shaun Ley are also among the unlucky presenters. Along with Croxall and Brown, they spend...

The British royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — the first American princess in generations — is a global-zeitgeist event made-to-order for social media.

For the first time, social media will play an enormous role in how people consume (and react to) every last detail of Harry and Meghan’s historic knot-tying festivities. The U.K.’s last royal wedding — the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton — was seven years ago. Back then, Snapchat didn’t even exist, while Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter had yet to fully blossom.

“It’s a completely different world from 2011,” said Rashida Jones, senior VP of specials for NBC News. “We didn’t have a social-media team the last time we did this.”

Sure, there’s going to be wall-to-wall TV coverage of Meghan-Harry in the States, the U.K., and elsewhere. But social media has changed news organizations’ strategies both in terms of...