Support BBC Journalists

Date: Aug 1, 2011 12:20 PM

Just come back from a lively determined picket at BBC Oxford where NUJ members are fighting compulsory redundancies across the country as part of national strike action.

The current round of cuts are likely to be only the first wave and there is real concern that, when the Delivering Quality First report comes out in September, it will mean many more redundancies across the service.  Though it looks like BBC Oxford will be retained, after a vigorous campaign by journalists and the viewing public, there are likely to be compulsory redundancies in Oxfordshire, which will lead to a drop in service.

Cutbacks at the BBC will mean a loss of democratic accountability as we will find it harder and harder to access high-quality news which reports genuine issues and holds politicians to account. The recent scandal at News Corp (owners of the News of the World) shows what happens when news provision is left to the likes of Rupert Murdoch.

We should stand together with journalists at the BBC, locally and nationally, to demand an end to cuts and no more compulsory redundancies.