Following Friday's article in The Times by Patrick Foster entitled 'BBC signals an end to era of expansion' there's been a flurry of activity both in the press and online speculating on the possible findings of the BBC's Strategy Review and where any cuts might fall.
The major newspapers tended to repeat the main message of the Times' article with the Telegraph reporting, 'BBC to drop radio stations and cut web pages', the Guardian stating: 'BBC ''to axe radio stations and halve website'' in strategic review' while the Independent went with 'BBC surrenders to commercial pressure to prune its services'. Similar reports appeared amongst many online press, music and media journals such as the Wall Street Journal, Billboard, and the Register while both the FT and the BBC itself reported the growing chance of industrial action.
The key issue that piqued interest was the possible closure of 6 Music. Later that day the Guardian reported the growing... 'Opposition to closure threat regarding 6 Music' and the following day presenter Phil Jupitus contributed a piece headlined: 'Killing BBC 6 Music would be a slap in the face to licence-payers'.
The Guardian also emphasising the political aspects of the news with 'Shadow culture minister Ed Vaizey welcomes proposals for BBC cuts' although by today the story was, 'Tory culture spokesman joins 6 Music fanclub with U-turn over closure'. Meanwhile the Times returned to the subject via its business pages saying: 'BBC caps sport and ditches imported hits in shake-up'.
Editorially, The Times described the BBC as 'Big, bloated and cunning' and the Guardian and Observer typically invited comment from, amongst others Jude Rogers, Peter Preston, Jean Seaton and Emily Bell amongst others, as well as a piece stating that, 'Axed channels shouldn't mean a loss of character and flair.' Meanwhile there was a surge of interest in Facebook groups as well as Twitter campaigns.
By this morning the story was being looked at in more depth by James Robinson and Maggie Brown, while Patrick Foster again returned to the subject in the Times.
There will be a large amount of discussion and speculation around this particular subject over the next few days. It's worth noting that, as well as issuing an official statement on the BBC Press Office site, we have just re-launched the About the BBC website which will be publishing all the announcements on the BBC's Strategy Review and will also be providing links to, and coverage of conversations on the topic.
