[Swprograms] [London Telegraph] BBC strike over job cuts threatens coverage of Wimbledon and Open

[Joel Rubin <jmrubin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/05/12/nbbc12.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/05/12/ixportal.html

By David Millward and Andrew Sparrow, Political Correspondent
(Filed: 12/05/2005)

BBC journalists and technicians were last night threatening to disrupt
coverage of Wimbledon and The Open golf championship after voting
overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in protest at thousands of
job cuts.
	
Dating

Officials from Amicus, the NUJ and Bectu will meet today to decide on
their next step following the ballot which saw an 83.9 per cent vote
for strike action by journalists and an 80 per cent backing for a
walk- out by technicians.

The first industrial action must take place between May 19 and June
10. Last night unions were talking about a one-day midweek walk-out,
which could see massive disruption to live programming.

It would also leave the unions free to continue the dispute over the
summer if an agreement over the job cuts, intended to save £355
million by 2005, is not reached.

"Radio 5 Live would be anything but live," said Gerry Morissey,
Bectu's assistant general secretary, adding that blue riband events
such as Wimbledon were high on the unions' target list. It is
understood that the union is unlikely to target the FA Cup Final on
May 21, which is also broadcast by Sky.

The scale of the vote - there was a 64 per cent turnout of NUJ members
- is an indication of the feeling among BBC staff who have been
angered by the proposed cull of thousands of jobs announced by Mark
Thompson, the BBC director general, earlier this year.

Bectu described the job cuts, which could see one in five employees
losing their jobs, as the most brutal in the corporation's history.

A BBC spokesman said: "Given the scale of the changes that the BBC
needs to make, and that the unions have not allowed us to talk to them
in order to address their concerns, we are not surprised by the ballot
result, but we are disappointed because we would prefer to continue
constructive discussions."

Meanwhile, the corporation announced yesterday that it would be
appointing a new Europe Editor as it promised "greater sophistication"
in its coverage of European Union affairs.

There will be more training for BBC news staff to improve their
understanding of EU politics and a pledge to broadcast a wider range
of views about the advantages and disadvantages of EU membership,
moving debate beyond the "Westminster prism".

The corporation made its announcement in response to a report in
January accusing the BBC of unintentional bias in its European
coverage.

The report, commissioned by the BBC governors, said: "While we have
found no evidence of deliberate bias in BBC coverage of EU matters, we
have found that there is a widespread perception that it suffers from
certain forms of cultural and unintentional bias."

Helen Boaden, the director of news, said: "We are fully committed to
providing in-depth, fair and impartial coverage of Europe and the EU,
and to engaging our audiences on this highly complex subject."


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