WGGB and the other entertainment unions Equity, Musicians’ Union, BECTU and the NUJ raised up a Twitter storm on the evening of Tuesday 5 April 2016 in support of the BBC, culminating in a ‘Thunderclap’ of simultaneous Tweets, which reached over a million people and was backed by high-profile union members and supporters including writer Caitlin Moran, Dr Foster actor Bertie Carvel and actor and director Samuel West.
At the same time, union members gathered outside BAFTA in London as BBC Director General Tony Hall took part in an ‘in conversation’ event on the future of public service TV with Labour Peer and film producer Lord Puttnam, to show their support for the corporation and urge Tony Hall to ditch the Licence Fee deal he made with the Government last year.
The deal will mean the BBC will have to shoulder the £750 million cost of free licences for those over-75 (roughly 20% of the BBC budget).
The event was organised by the Federation of Entertainment Unions (FEU), of which WGGB is part, under the banner of the BBC Love It Or Lose It campaign, which is calling for a strong, independent and properly funded BBC as it faces charter renewal.
Union members and supporters took to the Twittersphere to show their support for the corporation, using the hashtags #backthebbc and #fututureoftv, and urging Tony Hall to ‘ditch the deal’.
Read WGGB Chair Gail Renard’s report on the BAFTA discussion on the future of public service TV.
Above photos by Anne Hogben, Ellie Peers and Gail Renard. #backthebbc Twitter photos show WGGB General Secretary Bernie Corbett, WGGB Assistant General Secretary Anne Hogben and WGGB Assistant General Secretary Ellie Peers
