Gary Lineker, as we all know now, is back at the BBC after a very embarrassing climb down, which has been handled terribly it is fair to say.
Now, Fiona Bruce has had to step back from Refuge after ‘storm’ over Stanley Johnson remark on Question Time.
Also, The BBC chair, Richard Sharp, is under increasing pressure to quit after the corporation apologised over its handling of the impartiality row surrounding Gary Lineker.
Keir Starmer called on the government to examine how it could protect a “truly independent and impartial” BBC.
He told ITV News: “I think Richard Sharp’s position is increasingly untenable. I think most people watching the complete mess of the last few days would say how on earth is he still in position and Gary Lineker has been taken off air? This is a mess of the BBC’s own making. They need to sort it out and sort it out fast.”
What next for the BBC’s disaster train?!
Radio
Well, BBC local radio staff are set to strike over changes to radio schedules after members of the journalists’ union “overwhelmingly” backed industrial action.
The strike, which has been called by the National Union of Journalists, will start at 11am, 90 minutes before Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is due to make his Budget speech in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
The BBC has plans to introduce greater programme-sharing on local radio in England.
The changes would result in the loss of about 48 staff posts.
Threat
Paul Siegert, NUJ national broadcasting officer said: “This is the biggest threat facing local radio since it launched in 1967.
“The key to its success over the past 50 years has been its localness. When it stops being local it loses its USP.
“If these proposals are allowed to go ahead it will be the beginning of the end for local radio. The NUJ is not opposed to the BBC investing in digital services, but there are ways of having both.
“More than five million people listen to local radio and many of them pay their licence fee largely because of local radio. They have every right to be angry.”
Related: BBC: Fiona Bruce loses role over something she said – people agreeing with it
