BBC strike: Radio 4's Today forced off air
NUJ members on picket line as BBC strike over pensions forces radio and TV breakfast shows to slim down output
Read the BBC's rolling updates on the impact of the strike
Read the BBC's rolling updates on the impact of the strike
=========================================
Radio 4's Today programme was knocked off air this morning and otherBBC News breakfast output was hit as journalists began a 48-hour strike over pensions.
Regular Today features including Thought For The Day, Farming Today, sports and business updates and the paper review were replaced by an electic mix of repeats including Off the Page: Living Cheap, a discussion about how to live in tough times.
BBC Breakfast and Radio 5 Live Breakfast made it to air, but without their regular presenters and with a reduced offering featuring extended pre-recorded packages.
Outside BBC Television Centre in west London, where the corporation's main TV and radio programmes are based, a handful of NUJ members including Newsnight economics editor and union rep Paul Mason, were manning a low-key picket line.
Mark Byford, the outgoing BBC deputy director general, crossed the picket line without saying a word or looking at anyone.
John Humphrys and Sarah Montague, who were due to present Today, chose not to cross National Union of Journalists picket lines. Radio 4 announcer Susan Rae anchored a 15-minute news bulletin at the top of the hour during Today's normal running time, with repeats filling the rest of the airtime.
These included Ian Hislop fronting Lord Kitchener's Image; Great Lives: Winston Churchill; and The Estuary, a look at migratory birds in the Wash on the east coast.
Ian Payne took over from regular Radio 5 Live Breakfast hosts Nicky Campbell and Shelagh Fogarty.
BBC Breakfast is normally simulcast on the BBC News channel. Today it was the other way round, with regular Breakfast Friday hosts Susanna Reid and Charlie Stayt and the show's cosy sofa set replaced by a single presenter behind the BBC News channel desk.
On the BBC News channel, from 9am Simon McCoy was handling things alone instead of the usual two presenters and the rolling news network ran schedule padded out with pre-recorded packages rather than live material.
Victoria Derbyshire's 10am Radio 5 Live show was running repeats of her interviews, including one from earlier this week featuring the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt.
Later today Simon Mayo's afternoon show on Radio 5 Live is also to be replaced by repeats.
Radio 3's breakfast show was also off air, while about half the BBC's 40 local radio stations were operating a normal service and the rest offering core bulletins and a reduced output.
The breakfast programmes on Radio Scotland and Good Morning Ulster were replaced by Radio 5 Live output.
===============================================
No comments:
Post a Comment