Stop ‘deception’ over stars’ pay, BBC is warned
THE BBC is “hiding” the salaries of top presenters, MPS have claimed, as they prepare to warn the corporation’s boss Tim Davie that the organisation must be “more open” about its talent wage bill.
The BBC director-general is in line for a “spicy session” giving evidence to the Commons digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) select committee tomorrow, sources close to it have warned.
MPS are determined to question him about the way the corporation discloses the pay of its top stars, amid allegations of “smoke and mirrors” tactics that disguise the true cost of its highest paid presenters.
The BBC publishes the official salaries of those earning more than £150,000 a year, but critics complain that the list omits payments made to stars through BBC Studios, the corporation’s commercial arm.
This year’s annual report, published in July, disclosed the names of 72 on-air figures receiving salaries above the threshold. However, the absence of Strictly Come Dancing presenters Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly, as well as Top Gear presenter Andrew Flintoff, raised eyebrows.
Julian Knight, Tory chairman of the DCMS select committee, warned earlier this summer that there was “a concerning lack of transparency because a number of top-earning stars are paid through BBC Studios and their salaries don’t appear” on the published list.
He said licence fee payers were “only getting half the picture on whether they are getting value for money”, and called on the BBC to “drop the smoke and mirrors approach”.
Mr Davie launched a defence, telling a press conference in response that it was “absolutely appropriate” the commercial wing of the BBC did not disclose “all of its individual costs”.
MPS are poised to tackle him over the issue tomorrow, it is understood. One parliamentarian on the committee said of the unseen pay of stars remunerated via BBC Studios: “They [the BBC] have got to be more open about that. I don’t know why they hide it.”
Other awkward topics are expected to arise at the session, including the views of Nadine Dorries, the new Culture Secretary, who in the past has called the BBC a “Left-wing”, “patronising” and “hypocritical” organisation.
Fresh allegations about disgraced journalist Martin Bashir, and BBC plans for a Love Island-style reality television show are also set to be raised.
In addition, Mr Davie’s role in ensuring the political impartiality of the corporation will be scrutinised.
“He must make sure the BBC is demonstrably impartial and independent. It is, after all, a public-funded body,” said a second MP on the committee, who described the hiring of Jess Brammar as a “worry”. Ms Brammar, a former editor at Left-leaning news website Huffington Post, is set to become executive head of news at the BBC.
A BBC spokesman said: “BBC Studios is a commercial organisation, not underpinned by the licence fee, so competes for business with the BBC, other broadcasters and streaming services in the global marketplace.
“The Government therefore agreed that BBC Studios should be treated on a level playing field with independent production companies which, as commercial operations, are not required to disclose pay.”