Give female stars aged 45 or older more slots on TV, Ofcom tells BBC

THE BBC should set a target for how many older female presenters appear on screen, the head of Ofcom said, amid fears they are being driven out at 45.

Sharon White, the chief executive of the regulator that took over as the BBC watchdog in April, said she was concerned women were “not progressing through the organisation”. While the BBC is aiming to have half its on-air roles filled by women by 2020, as well as 50 per cent of all its staff, there is not a similar target for older women.

The BBC has long faced criticism for its treatment of older women, and lost an age discrimination case brought by Miriam O’reilly, the Countryfile presenter who was sacked in 2009 to make way for younger presenters.

Ms White said: “One of the key statistics that was striking to me in our report is that broadcasters routinely hire more older men than older women and routinely hire more younger women than younger men. That says something about the way in which women are recruited but are not progressing.”

Ms White also said that the BBC needed to do more to broaden its appeal to younger viewers who are deserting the broadcaster for videos on social networking websites and Youtube.

Ms White told MPS on the digital, culture, media and sport select committee that the BBC’S “biggest strategic issue” was attracting younger people who had not “grown up with switching on the TV at 6.45pm on a Saturday night and watching Strictly”.

“Through social networks and Youtube they can find programmes that are absolutely targeted at their niche interest,” she said, blaming the BBC for failing to engage with the young. She said younger people, older women and some ethnic minority groups did not feel like “they are seeing their stories told”, with broadcasters failing to create content “designed for them”.

A BBC spokesman said: “Ofcom’s own recent diversity report found that the BBC employed a higher proportion of women aged over 50 than other broadcasters.

“We’re determined to meet our targets for 50 per cent of our workforce, leadership and leading on-air roles to be women by 2020 and are proud of the fact that the BBC has a huge range of women presenters across TV and radio including Mary Berry, Carol Klein, Jenni Murray, Anne Robinson, June Brown, Andrea Oliver, Mary Beard, Gloria Hunniford, Angela Rippon, Deborah Meaden and Sue Barker.”

♦ Clemency Burton-hill, the Radio 3 presenter, said arts programmes were being condemned to digital channels, only for the BBC to then lament low audiences. Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, she said: “It’s shocking that the BBC… don’t prioritise putting the arts on a more mainstream channel.”