Media Brief

I'm the BBC's media correspondent and this is my brief selection of what's going on.

BBC staff have voted in favour of strike action over plans to cut their pensions, the BBC and Guardian report. But unions said the decision on whether to strike would be postponed for two weeks, while it discussed alternative proposals with the BBC.

The Guardian reports allegations in the New York Times that the prime minister's media adviser, Andy Coulson, discussed the use of unlawful news-gathering techniques while editor of the News of the World. The New York Times claims he "actively encouraged" a named reporter to engage in the illegal interception of voicemail messages. The Guardian says he has always insisted he had no knowledge of illegal activity and has denied the latest allegations.

The BBC has lost a legal fight to stop publication of a book which reveals the identity of Top Gear's driver The Stig. The BBC reports the High Court refused to grant an injunction blocking publication by HarperCollins of an autobiography by driver Ben Collins.

The director general of the BBC, Mark Thompson, has said there was a "massive bias to the left" among the Corporation's journalists, when he joined the BBC thirty years ago. He told the New Statesman that staff had been "quite mystified" by the rise of Margaret Thatcher, but now impartiality was much higher up the agenda, reports the Daily Mail.

The Independent calls Tony Blair's autobiography "the political memoirs of the decade" and says it's the fastest selling autobiography ever. The BBC newspaper review says the papers also examine William Hague's personal statement about his private life.

Links in full

• BBC | BBC staff vote for pension strike
• Jason Deans | Guardian | BBC staff vote for strike over pensions
• Nick Davies | Guardian | Andy Coulson discussed phone hacking at News of the World, report claims
• New York Times | Tabloid Hack Attack on Royals, and Beyond
• BBC | BBC loses battle over Ben Collins book
• James Macintyre | New Statesman | "There was massive left-wing bias at the BBC"
• Independent | Blair's memoirs: From No10 to No1
• BBC | Newspaper review

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