Jeremy Dear: 'BBC prostrates itself again'

NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear has on his blog accused the BBC and BBC Trust of prostrating themselves by agreeing to delay the introduction of sport and news apps after protest by the Newspaper Publishers Association, representing the national press.

He writes: "scuppering yet another BBC initiative as they prostrate themselves before the commercial sector. This time it's smartphone apps, last time it was BBC Local - what next? 6Music, Asian Network, half the website? That surely is too far fetched."
Dear also accuses the BBC of keeping staff on its websites in the dark about plans that potentially threaten their jobs. He says: "Nothing that comes out of the strategic review around these proposals actually adds up.  They are going to cut 25% of staff - and yet every time they are asked which sites and which staff, they refer to mothballed sites, links that just redirect or pages that haven't been updated since 2006. So we ask the question again - come clean. Which sites and which staff are to be axed. You are paid lots of money. You've had months to come up with the plan. So tell us. Or do you intend to wait until the consultation is over, then spring it on staff and readers."