Newsnight is likely to be one of the shows dropped from the BBC's schedules on Monday because of the previously reported strike action being planned by most of the unions represented in the Corporation. Union members are opposed to the major cuts being pursued by BBC boss Mark Thompson.
News programming will be hardest hit by the strike action - with the Beeb ever more vulnerable to all out industrial action in the rolling news age. Newsnight will go partly because the priority is to deliver the main BBC1 news bulletins, meaning those BBC staff still in work will be transferred there, but also because presenter Jeremy Paxman has told his bosses he won't walk across the picket line at TV centre.
Paxman's decision has led to speculation as to which of the Beeb's other flagship news presenters will work despite the unions' action. Dermot Murnaghan and Natasha Kaplinksy are due to present breakfast on Monday, George Alagiah and Sian Williams are down to host the 6 O'Clock News and Fiona Bruce is scheduled for the 10pm bulletin. Unions will be hoping for the support of high profile names, while BBC bosses will be piling on the pressure for help to keep the flagship news shows running - which puts those poor news presenters into a pretty unenviable position.
Even if the flagship news shows do go ahead as planned, local, online and radio news is likely to be very badly hit by the strikes, and from what we hear only one News24 presenter has said he will work, so rolling news is unlikely to be rolling. All of which has pleased the unions, who are keen to demonstrate they are powerful enough to deserve a say in the future of the Corporation.
It currently remains to be seen what programming outside the current affairs domain is effected by the strikes.