The ABC has axed a digital content and innovation team in addition to the Q+A live talk show, resulting in 50 job losses in some of the first major changes from new managing director Hugh Marks since he started in March.

Forty people have been made redundant and 10 more were told their contracts will end early at meetings on Wednesday, in what Marks described in an internal email as the ABC stepping back from “areas that no longer align with our priorities”.