Lords tell BBC: Put more ladies on our screens
Major report set to condemn Corporation chiefs
THE BBC should be forced to put more women on screen as a condition of its licence fee funding being renewed, a powerful Parliamentary committee will say this week.
The Lord’s Communications Committee will recommend that more women should present news programmes and appear on panel shows and discussions, to cut down on the number of ‘men in suits’ who dominate factual television.
The committee, which has been investigating the role of women in news and current affairs broadcasting after a raft of ageism and sexism allegations, is due to publish its conclusions on Thursday.
One well-placed source said ‘the BBC has a lot to answer for’, and revealed that the report would criticise the Corporation for imposing confidentiality clauses on employees whose contracts are terminated.
It will acknowledge that the committee cannot legislate on the issue, but will suggest resolving the matter when the BBC’s Royal Charter is renewed, along with its funding agreement, it is understood.
The charter, which determines the Corporation’s scope and remit, and its funding, are both ten-year agreements which are due to come up for renewal at the end of 2016.
The committee may also suggest looking at the introduction of quotas for women in presenting positions – and is expected to criticise broadcasters over the way men dominate expert panels.
A source said: ‘Again, there’s too many suits – too many male experts invited on and not enough women.’
Last night Miriam O’Reilly, an award-winning journalist who four years ago won an ageism claim against the BBC, said she would be ‘delighted’ to see more women on screen – but pointed out that the BBC still had lots to do. ‘The BBC said it would reach out to older women but have not grasped any hands yet,’ she said, adding: ‘I still feel that some executives mistake youth and good looks as talent.’
Last November former Countryfile presenter Miss O’Reilly was one of a number of women who provided explosive evidence to Parliament. She told the committee she was ‘blacklisted’ by BBC management after her 2011 tribunal, a claim the corporation denies.
Peers were also provided with statements from six of her former BBC female colleagues, as well as anonymous accounts from other women in the industry, who claimed they had been mistreated because of their age. One said older female journalists were ‘likened to a nanny, a schoolmistress or a strident old battleaxe’, while their male colleagues were allowed to be ‘ugly, grizzly, fat, old and peculiar’.
And Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman said it was a ‘scandal that there are not more women in the industry over 50’. The report is understood to single out the BBC’s performance because of the state broadcaster’s size, but the recommendations could also apply to other broadcasters.
A BBC spokeswoman said it had eliminated gagging clauses, and went on to say: ‘Nearly half of the BBC’s news and current affairs workforce is female. We have a large number of on-air and management positions filled by women. We’re addressing the imbalance on air and off air.’
A Sky News spokeswoman said: ‘Sky has 23 presenters, 14 are female. Kay Burley is the longest-serving female newsreader on British television.’ Channel 5 said it does not have quotas for women. Channel 4 did not respond to requests for comment.
Executives are still mistaking youth and good looks for talent