Media Brief

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

The BBC has made an unreserved apology to Band Aid and its founder Bob Geldof for reports claiming that millions of pounds raised by the charity to fight famine in Ethiopia was spent on weapons. The Telegraph quotes an "industry source" as saying the BBC "compounded their mistake by robustly defending the programme before a proper investigation."

The Band Aid Trustee and former BBC chairman Michael Grade said on Radio 4's Today that the BBC had taken far too long to admit it was wrong.

The Business Secretary Vince Cable has referred the News Corporation bid for 100% ownership of BSkyB to the media regulator Ofcom, reports the BBC. News Corp formally applied to the European Commission on Wednesday to buy the 61% of the shares it doesn't own.

The business secretary's decision was predicted in the Guardian.

The Guardian reports that the BBC's director of Global News Peter Horrocks has told the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that budget cuts to the World Service are likely to result in about 300 job losses and closures to some language services.

A strike by members of the National Union of Journalists tomorrow is expected to disrupt BBC news programmes, including Radio 5 Live, Newsnight and the BBC News Channel. The 48-hour strike has been called has been called in protest at the BBC's proposed cuts to its pension scheme. The Telegraph lists Martha Kearney and Nicky Campbell among those joining the action.

The face of a dispirited-looking Barack Obama can be seen on many front pages, as the BBC's newspaper review shows. The Guardian sees "contrition, but little sign of compromise" from the White House, after the Democrats saw their worst mid-term defeat in 70 years. For the Daily Telegraph, Barack Obama is "the fallen idol".

Links in full

• BBC | BBC apology over Band Aid money reports
• Telegraph | BBC apologises to Bob Geldof for Band Aid slur
• Michael Grade | BBC Today | BBC apology 'unnecessarily difficult'
• BBC | News Corporation's bid for BSkyB faces probe
• Guardian | Vince Cable refers News Corp's BSkyB bid to regulator
• Guardian | BBC World Service cuts risk 300 jobs
• Telegraph | Martha Kearney and Nicky Campbell to join BBC strike
• BBC | Newspaper review

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