Three top BBC News presenters have quit the channel after being asked to audition for their jobs.
David Eades, Joanna Gosling, and Tim Willcox have reportedly taken voluntary redundancy amid the BBC's plans to merge its international and UK news channels.
Eades has presented his final show already, with Gosling expected to leave at the end of January while Wilcox's final day is yet to be decided.
The trio have decided not to take part in the recruitment process for a team of six lead presenters for the new channel that will combine the UK's 24-hour news with BBC World News.
Earlier this month, it was reported BBC News presenters were facing the axe and were asked to prove their skills in a "screen test" to keep their jobs.
Now it's been reported people are "incandescent" over the "humiliating" recruitment process.
BBC News and BBC World News channels will cut 70 jobs in the UK - including 14 presenters - as the BBC plans to rebrand as a more digitally focused rolling news service in the Spring.
Sources told Deadline the screen tests have been "humiliating" for the veteran TV news anchors.
"I think they [Eades, Gosling, and Willcox] could not face the prospect of having to go through this ignominious process," one source said.
Another added: "People are incandescent. It’s humiliating — you feel like you’re 21 again and applying for your first job on the BBC."
Eades, Gosling and Willcox have reportedly disputed the payoffs they were offered by the BBC after decades of service between them.
The trio lost a case against the UK tax authority in 2019 when the BBC forced them to set up the wrong payment arrangements.
The BBC declined to comment when contacted by Mirror Online.
There will be just six dedicated presenters of the new BBC News - that will cover domestic and world news under one banner - under plans being discussed with unions it has been claimed.
The redundancy process is said to have already begun and News channel presenters must perform a "screen test" if they want to be considered for one of the remaining "chief presenter" jobs that could earn up to £230,000 a year.
The "practical test" in the studio is thought to last 40 minutes as presenters will be assessed on how they perform.
Others in the alleged "at risk" group include veteran foreign correspondent turned news anchor Ben Brown. He reported from Moscow during the fall of Communism in 1991 and was embedded with British troops during the 2003 Iraq invasion.
Martine Croxall, who has worked for the BBC for more than 30 years, and Shaun Ley, who also presents World At One on Radio 4, are also thought to be in the line of fire.
The BBC expects to save more than £1m a year by cutting the number of news presenters.
Big name anchors who present the BBC One bulletins – including Huw Edwards, Fiona Bruce and Clive Myrie – are understood to have their jobs protected and won't need to reapply.
With less dedicated news anchors, the new BBC News channel will feature a “visualisation” of Nicky Campbell’s BBC Radio 5 Live programme broadcast on weekday mornings.
It will be broadcast from London during UK daytime and Singapore and Washington DC during the rest of the 24 hour news cycle.
“We’ve never had to reapply for our roles before. It’s the BBC making us jump through hoops," a news insider told i News.
Explaining the changes, Naja Nielsen, digital director at BBC News, said: “The way audiences consume news is changing. Our aim is to create the best live and breaking video news service in the world – on our webpages, our apps, on BBC iPlayer and on our new TV news channel.”
A spokesman for The National Union of Journalists said: “It will be impossible for the new channel to have the same high standards of journalism that the two current channels are known for around the globe."
