Over the years, the BBC (like any other big company) have suffered from strikes by staff. I witnessed one first hand in Manchester quite recently. Previously, the biggest was at the tail end of 1978 when our screens were filled with silence and apologies (see accompanying image). Now, another strike is gaining support across the corporation, with staff angry at possible cuts to the BBC's news operations.

According to The Guardian, head of BBC News Peter Horrocks has said in an email that many editors in the news department "believe there will be strong support for action," because staff want to protect their jobs, and see cuts to the news budget as not delivering what the public want from the BBC. Horrocks says in the email: "Many of the assistant editors will be militant as they are under threat themselves."

The BBC has confirmed that it does not have any plans to axe digital channels BBC3 and BBC4 as a way to plug its funding gap of £2 billion, but has said it needs to make annual savings of 3% over the next five years across the corporation.