BBC Strike: Programmes taken off-air and big names stay away

{jcomments on}The strike at the BBC by members of the National Union of Journalists, over compulsory redundancies, has resulted in some of the corporations most familiar names staying away. Meanwhile programmes such as Newsnight and The World At One have been replaced by repeats.

The one-day strike has caused disruption to the BBC’s schedules across its output. While flagship morning programme Breakfast still went ahead it was without its usual presenters and not in its normal format. BBC Radio Four’s Today programme didn’t get underway until 7am and programmes such as You and Yours, The World At One, PM and Newsnight have all been cancelled for the day. Radio Four is, by far, the worst affected by the strike with the majority of programmes which have been cancelled for the day usually airing on the radio station.

The cancellation of Newsnight will be a particular blow to the corporation as the current affairs programme has enjoyed a boost in ratings since the phone-hacking scandal re-emerged last week. The programme being taken off-air, for today only, comes as on the same day Rebekah Brooks quit her role at News International. Had Newsnight gone ahead as normal it would have been to another rise in ratings.

As well as programme’s being taken off-air for the day the BBC was forced to used stand-ins for some of the programmes that did go ahead as normal. Once again Breakfast presenters Charlie Stayt and Susanna Reed stayed away – as they did in November during the previous strike. Nicky Campbell was absent from Radio Five Live while big news names such as Nick Robinson, Robert Peston and Laura Kuenssberg were noticeably absent from the BBC’s reports. All three have been following the Phone-Hacking scandal for the BBC over the past two weeks and have been the main faces of the corporations coverage of events.

Earlier this week the NUJ offered to call off today’s strike if bosses at the corporation agreed to meet to “resolve” the threat of compulsory redundancies. The BBC, in a statement earlier today, said it was “disappointed” by the strike. Another one day strike is scheduled for the end of the month.