13 March 2023
BBC Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London. Just one of more than 30 buildings where BBC Local journalists are taking action. Photo Richard Cooke via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0).
BBC journalists working in local stations are starting industrial action in defence of their jobs and their service. They have called a 24-hour strike from 11am on Wednesday 15 March, followed by a work to rule.
The 1,000 journalists, members of the National Union of Journalists, voted over 80 per cent in favour of strike action on a turnout of nearly 70 per cent. The first strike will hit coverage of the Budget, and others may follow.
Trigger
The trigger for the action is a decision by the BBC to remove local programmes at weekends and after 2pm on weekdays, with some news being pre-recorded. The union fears this is a step towards dismantling BBC Local, which has 5.7 million listeners every week.
“Investing in digital services should not come at the expense of local radio…”
Paul Siegert, the NUJ’s national broadcasting organiser, said, “Local radio is supposed to be local…NUJ members are not opposed to the BBC investing in digital services, but it should not come at the expense of local radio and the communities it serves.”
The BBC claims it is pursuing a digital first policy, chasing younger viewers and listeners. The NUJ believes that can work with local services, and that the BBC could take a different approach. For example links to BBC regional website live pages are poorly promoted; some of the vast marketing budget could be used to change that.