The director general of the BBC argued that proposed cuts to local radio are "the right thing," despite the fact that they are "very difficult and unpopular.".
On Tuesday, Tim Davie was questioned by members of a House of Commons committee and referred to local radio as "precious.".
But he acknowledged that he had to make "a painful choice" because the BBC lacked the resources to "keep everything whole.".
The plans call for increased program sharing during the afternoons, evenings, and weekends between England's 39 local stations.
For the fewer shows, producers, journalists, and presenters must go through a recruitment process.
Conservative MP Steve Brine claimed that he had learned that seasoned presenters at his local station had been pressured to "sell themselves in 60 seconds" in order to save their jobs and to create demo tapes that managers never accessed.
Mr. Brine asserted that the procedure amounted to "workplace bullying.".
In response, Mr. Davie said, "What the team tried to achieve was a procedure that is fair to everyone and levels the playing field. ".
He acknowledged that he was unaware of all the specifics of the hiring practices and said, "Everyone will have an opinion on the process. It is not enjoyable to go through. ".
In protest at changes to the output last week, local employees went on a 48-hour strike.
The proposals had previously been criticized by a number of MPs in letters to Mr. Davie, but the director general assured the committee: "We understand, are open to your feedback, and have already made some adjustments to our plans to ensure that we are selecting the best options with very limited resources. ".
The National Union of Journalists' (NUJ) members are also working to rule, which includes declining to assume more senior positions.
I hope we can give people more certainty as we proceed with the process, said Mr. Davie.
He stated that neither the BBC Local headcount nor budget will "bigly change" as a result of the changes.
The media outlet is shifting funding from local radio to digital output and a network of fresh investigative teams.
Another member of the culture, media, and sport committee in the House of Commons, Conservative MP Simon Jupp, questioned whether the hiring procedure was "robust, fair, and even nice," and claimed Mr. Davie was "managing decline.".
The director general replied, "Quite the opposite, in fact, given that local radio audiences have fallen by 20% in recent years.
He claimed that if you spend all of your money on broadcast, you will have to manage decline. "I am unable to make that decision on behalf of the BBC.
. "
