BBC presenter Amol Rajan has said the broadcaster is destined “get smaller at an accelerating rate” as he prepares to leave the Today programme on Radio 4.
It comes as the BBC is set to make £500 million of cuts over the next two years, with staff fearing Newsnight could be axed after 46 years.
The BBC is grappling with the falling value of its licence fee funding and an increase in the number of people opting not to pay it.
Speaking to the Political Currency podcast, Rajan said he was leaving the BBC because he wants to "go where the action is", suggesting the BBC was set shrink rapidly.
“I’ve worked for 20 years in the media,” he said.
“I had a wonderful 10 years in newspapers, a wonderful 10 years in TV and radio and I’ve always been a bit behind the curve, basically. And I feel that I’ve always been basically in areas of rapid and accelerating decline.
"The Today programme … does not fit with this argument, so I’m arguing against myself, but the BBC and BBC News is in the years to come going to get smaller at an accelerating rate, and I want to go to where the action is, and that’s YouTube."
Rajan announced earlier this year he was leaving the Today programme to start his own project on YouTube and "unleash my inner entrepreneur". He added he would continue presenting University Challenge and his Radical podcast with the corporation.
The BBC has already announced a new partnership to produce content dedicated to YouTube as it grapples with the rise of digital platforms.
According to The Sun, Newsnight could be taken off air amid the broadcaster's plans to save £500 million over the next three years.
In 2023, the number of staff on the programme was already reduced from 57 to 23 – with the special investigations team cut entirely.
The BBC has not confirmed any decision to end the show, saying only that BBC News will contribute to the savings programme.
The BBC announced in March 2023 that it was to cut 1000 hours of TV in order to save money, with half of that coming from sport.
