Bring her back, you fools

Top BBC journalists have slammed executives for sacking a Black woman newsreader who is a national institution, writes Chris Gaynor.

Question Time host David Dimbleby has waded into the row, along with a string of other hacks who blasted BBC chiefs for axing Moira Stuart.

Moira, 54, was a long serving member of the BBC news team and was given the sack for no appropriate reason, other than claims by top guns such as Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman that 'ageism' was behind the decision. He called the sacking somewhat 'strange.'

Political predators one by one came out to snipe at the decision that caused furore amongst the journalism establishment.

It seems that hacks really do look after their own. Even the tabloid paper The Daily Mail got in on the act launching a Bring Back Moira campaign.

BBC's head of television news Peter Horrocks refused to discuss the position that had been reached, but, now amid the backlash from inside the Beeb, it is claimed that Stuart may return to news reading in some capacity or another. What ever that means?

David Dimbleby said: 'The BBC goes through the occasional spasm of change for the sake of change, usually driven by focus groups and opinion surveys rather than common sense and editorial judgement.'

The decision to oust the black female newsreader, who is regarded as an institution may well have stunned her journo buddies, but it has probably stunned the armchair watchers more who rely on her for the current news going on in the outside world.

So what has been going on behind closed doors at Britain's biggest news corporation? And if Newsnight presenter Paxman has labelled the decision as 'strange,' who knows what other 'strange' decisions maybe in the pipeline for reform at the British Broadcasting Corporation?

What do you think of the Beeb's decision to sack Moira Stuart? Your thoughts and comments on this issue are welcomed.