Regional television services will continue to be impacted by industrial action until May in protest against changes to BBC Local Radio in England.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) confirmed on Friday that a second 24 hour strike would take place from midnight on Friday 5th May. The move is timed to coincide with the broadcaster’s coverage of local election results. Until then, staff will be working to rule, resulting in further disruption, including combined news bulletins across regions.
The first strike on 15th March, Budget Day, resulted in regional news bulletins in all but two regions being cancelled and replaced by alternative programmes.
But BBC management is pushing ahead with plans to cut local programmes. Their plans see local radio stations sharing programmes across the network from 2pm on weekdays and throughout the weekend. This will see stations going from more than 100 hours of local programming every week down to just 40.
Work to rule – how is it affecting bulletins?
The ongoing work to rule has resulted in changes to presenter line-ups and the loss of some bulletins.
Presenters have been tweeting that they will not be acting up to fill senior roles during this time. As a result, freelancers have been filling slots. In the south of England, Nick Quraishi (LBC News, Sky News) was brought in to present the main evening bulletin on Friday. The late bulletin was combined across the South and South East.
Meanwhile, Thursday’s regional Breakfast bulletins were combined across multiple BBC regions in the north. The East Yorkshire branch of the NUJ tweeted the bulletins contained two main stories – one from Newcastle and one from Skegness – for viewers “in an area covering Carlisle, Berwick, Newcastle, Leeds, Hull, Sheffield and Lincoln.” It said that level of coverage will happen on the BBC’s proposed regional shows which will replace local programmes on Local Radio. According to the Union, “weekend breakfast shows in the region would cover an area of 5 million – the equivalent of the population of [the Republic of] Ireland.”
Commenting on the industrial action, Paul Siegert, NUJ national broadcasting organiser, said:
“Video didn’t kill off radio and nor will digital. We understand that digital services need to be improved but it shouldn’t come at the expense of local radio which is at the heart of the BBC’s public service remit. To go from over 100 hours a week of local programming on every radio station, down to just 40 is unacceptable. People want local relevant news that is accessible and NUJ members are prepared to stand up and fight for that. Once local radio stops being local then it is the beginning of the end and BBC bosses don’t have the right to destroy an institution that has existed for over 50 years.”
Marc Thornham