Rise for Maitlis to stop her quitting in row over gender pay gap at BBC
EMILY MAITLIS’S salary was being “dealt with” last night after fears she would quit the BBC because she was being paid less than male colleagues.
The Newsnight presenter, 46, was furious after finding men topped the list when the Corporation published a list of top earners’ salaries.
While she earns less than £150,000 a year, and did not even make the list, Newsnight co-host Evan Davis earns up to £299,000.
Miss Maitlis was so dismayed she publicly blasted the broadcaster at a business event this week.
The star, who has worked for the BBC since 2001, said: “You’re an industry doing so well, soon you’ll be able to afford a BBC man!”
Madness
Now the BBC is hastily negotiating a new contract after her agent Alex Armitage said the current situation was “beyond madness”.
TV insiders also speculated that Miss Maitlis, who speaks five languages, could be poached by a rival television company.
A BBC spokesperson said: “Emily is one of the brightest stars in British journalism.
“Emily has been off-rota for several weeks now while we negotiate a new contract and we hope to reach an agreement soon.”
The BBC has come under fire for its gender pay gap after being forced to reveal salary details of its best-paid stars by the Government.
Women made up just one third of its 96 top earning employees. Prime Minister Theresa May told radio station LBC: “We have seen the way the BBC is paying women less for doing the same job as the men. I want to see women paid equally with men. The only reason we know about this, though, is because the Government required the BBC to publish these figures.”
BBC director general Tony Hall said it has “set a clear target for 2020 – we want all our lead and presenting roles to be equally divided between men and women”.
He added: “Meeting our goal on this is going to have a profound impact not just on the BBC, but the whole media industry.
“It’s going to change the market for talent in this country.”
Jeremy Vine was revealed to be the BBC’s highest paid journalist, earning between £700,000 and £749,999 a year.
He was followed by Today programme and Mastermind presenter John Humphrys on £600,000 to £649,999 and News at Ten anchor Huw Edwards on between £550,000 and £599,999.
Disdain
Newsreader Fiona Bruce is the BBC’s highest paid woman journalist on between £350,000 and £399,999, which includes presenting the Antiques Roadshow.
Unhappy BBC staff were using hashtag #notonthelist on Twitter to protest about the pay gap.
Among the high-profile broadcasters to voice disdain were Radio 4’s Jane Garvey and Charlotte Smith in a series of sarcastic tweets about their own pay.
Miss Smith tweeted: “I’m happy to accept a pay rise to help the BBC out with its gender pay gap problem... #notonthelist.”
Jane Garvey also took to social media suggesting the pay gap would be a hot topic on Woman’s Hour.
She wrote: “I’m looking forward to presenting @ BBCWomansHour today. We’ll be discussing #GenderPayGap. As we’ve done since 1946. Going well, isn’t it?”