BBC has landed itself amid two major controversies, after the corporation's annual report has revealed that 88.5% of its staff earning more than £150,000 are white. It caused further outcry after the published salaries has revealed a significant gender pay gap. Just a third of its 96 top earners are women and just three women feature in the top 10.
BBC director general Tony Hall reportedly said it needed to ‘achieve the right balance when it comes to BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) talent’. BAME staff represent 10.3% of BBC leadership and 14.5% of all staff, with a 15% target set for both categories by 2020, the Metro reported.
However, Lord Hall has pointed out that nearly 20% of the leading talent they’ve hired or promoted in the last few years came from BAME backgrounds. Of the 11 people earning more than £150,000, ten are from BAME backgrounds, and one is mixed-race.
The ten are newsreaders George Alagiah and Moira Stuart, economics editor Kamal Ahmed, EastEnders actors Tameka Empson and Diane Parish, Radio 4’s Today presenter Mishal Husain, BBC Breakfast host Naga Munchetty, DJ Trevor Nelson, deputy political editor John Pienaar and Holby City star Hugh Quarshie. The person of mixed-race background is newsreader and presenter Jason Mohammad.
The BBC’s best-paid star, Chris Evans, reportedly took home £2.2 million in the last financial year; whereas the best-paid female star, Claudia Winkleman, collected between £450,000 and £500,000, a fifth of Evans’s wage.
The news broke in the same week that easyJet's Carolyn McCall was named CEO of ITV: she will be the organisation’s first female chief executive. However, it is believed that BBC's rival ITV has been negotiating with McCall, in particular, over her remuneration package.
UK's Prime Minister Theresa May accused the corporation of paying women less for doing almost identical jobs. “I want to see women paid equally with men”, she said in an interview with LBC. “I think what has happened today is we have seen the way the BBC is paying women less for doing the same job as the men.”
