Short term-ism

The NUJ's friends in Parliament are heading for a meeting with BBC Director of Radio and Education James Purnell about surrendering radio production to indies.

They might, if they were interested, also raise the question of short-term contracts at the BBC. As BBC Studios head commercial, more and more production roles are being advertised as jobs associated only with programmes, rather than as career opportunities. This is the variant on dock labour schemes dreamed of by various BBC strategists over the years.

Currently, you can join a new natural history series, Wild Metropolis, as producer on an 18-month contract; or a new children's fantasy adventure show, which needs a production co-ordinator for 9 months; or you could work on Mrs Brown's Boys' spin-offs for five months as a production co-ordinator or production management assistant.