Why does BBC pay sky high salaries?
YOU can’t blame the so-called BBC talent who grace our screens for the ludicrous salaries they are paid. You certainly can blame the over-generous executives who lavish millions of pounds of licence fee payers’ money on ‘highly valued stars’ whose only talent is to sit there and talk. I do not tune into the BBC News to watch Huw Edwards (£469,999), Radio 2 to listen to the irritating Zoe Ball (£1,364,999) or Match Of The Day because the opinionated Gary Lineker (£1,354,999 after a £400,000 pay cut) is presenting. I simply want to see the news, listen to music and watch the football highlights. Scrap the licence fee and see how the BBC gets on in the real world.
DAVID GORDON, Romiley, Cheshire. YOU don’t need a recognisable face to be paid £400,000-plus to read an Autocue. Half the population could carry out this simple task for a fraction of this salary.
J. TORKINGTON, Manchester. THE reported remuneration made to BBC staff should be put into perspective. Based on the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, the top BBC annual payment is the equivalent of 2.72 male and 4.62 female
lifetime earnings. It is difficult to see any justification for these huge salaries. None of these presenters are irreplaceable and if they were so highly valued, they would be employed elsewhere. ALEX PEARSON, Alyth, Perth & Kinross. WHY has Zoe Ball been given a £1 million salary for the most banal, inane, sycophantic garbage on prime-time radio? Radio 2 needs a relaxed, mature person in the morning, not someone who thinks they’re still a young raver going on about Ibiza and festivals.
BARRY HOPKINSON, Matlock, Derbys. SO ZOE Ball and Gary Lineker are the highest paid BBC presenters. Just goes to show their bank balances are as big as their egos.
ANDY WESTWOOD, Torquay, Devon. AS A music fan, I was brought up on Radio Caroline, Radio Luxembourg and Radio 1 where the presenters knew about music. I tried Radio 2’s breakfast show, but had to turn it off. No decent music and the irritating Zoe Ball spouting selfimportant nonsense.
KEN HUGHES, Pontypridd, Mid Glam. DOES Zoe Ball realise that 8,666 pensioners are having to club together to pay her salary and probably not one of them listens to her?
JOHN STOKOE, Hooton, Wirral.