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BBC Strike

BBC strike fails to move viewers

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

November 8, 2010 | 2 min read

A 48hr strike by journalists at the BBC has left the public unmoved it seems with a raft of back office staff brought in to replace wayward newsreaders carried the day.

Viewing figures held up well against commercial rivals with 4.4m tuning into the BBC Ten O’Clock News vs 2.5m for ITV’s news At Ten. There was no solace for BBC eloper Adrian Chiles on the Daybreak show either which scraped only 800,000 viewers as opposed to the 1.3m who watched BBC breakfast.

Some were said to have phoned the BBC switchboard’s to praise the improved quality of broadcasts fronted by managers, free lancers and executives.

The strike was supported by BBC big hitters Huw Edwards, Jeremy Paxman and Fiona Bruce. Although Andrew Neil, Jonathan Dimbleby and Evan Davies all crossed the picket lines.

The turmoil comes as the BBC prepares for a second threatened strike over Christmas and the organisations director general, Mark Thomson, apologised for signing a letter criticising Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB bid.

This followed irritation from the BBC Trust that they had not been consulted over the move and concern over the appropriateness of the action. Critics, including the BBC’s deputy director of news, argued that Thomson should not have become directly involved.

BBC Strike

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