BBC to tackle 'toxic' pay issue

[Win2Win Racing]

Trust chairman Lord Pattten says the BBC will announce moves in the next few days to deal with executive pay to restore public trust in the corporation.

More...

[barneymather]

But will they do anything about it? Of course not. Paxman may be good at grilling MPs, for all the good it does, but at £800,000 a year, he's on about 6 times what the Prime Minster gets.

I don't care who's in Downing Street as far as this issue goes, someone who's basically a reporter shouldn't be getting this kind of salary and certainly not from the public purse.

During the furore over MPs' expenses, a BBC presenter on the barely watched News 24 channel revealed she was on 90 grand a year. £1800 a week for reading the news to two men and a dog? Someone else at the Corporation whose job title is 'Director of Vision' cops over £400k a year for her trouble.

Then we have Jonathan Ross, who was on 6 million quid a year for parroting lame pre-scripted jokes and crawling to Hollywood celebs. The Beeb didn't volunteer this information about Ross's salary it should be remembered; it only came to light after a temp worker leaked the figure to the media.

If you work in the public sector, which the BBC is part of given that it's funded by what amounts to a tax, salaries must be made public and have to be justifiable.

Despite all this, in a way I wouldn't mind so much about the huge salaries being paid at the BBC if they stuck to what is supposed to be their remit instead of copying ITV's output, which has degraded over the past 20 years or so to such an extent that it's turned a once-proud broadcaster into a laughing stock. I mean, if you see Ant and Dec as a key element of your output, you're in big trouble.

What irks me the most though about the Beeb is that it's run by a patronising 'elite', who view (most of) the public's opinions on politics and comedy with unconcealed disgust. A nice way to treat those who pay your inflated wages!

[Win2Win]

They need to stop sending a crew to report on news outside a gate!!!! A factory in financial trouble... they do it live from outside the gate .... A murder suspect held in a prison... they report from outside his front gate .... what a waste of money ... nothing moves so use a bloody pic in the studio

[scoobydoo]

I would happily pay Jonathan Ross more to get Graham Norton off Friday nights

[mathare]

I would happily pay Jonathan Ross more to get Graham Norton off Friday nights

You'd pay Jonathan Ross to get Graham Norton off?

I'm not sure that's the best use of our licence fee is it?

[scoobydoo]

You'd pay Jonathan Ross to get Graham Norton off?

I'm not sure that's the best use of our licence fee is it?

Someone would pay good money for that I bet.

[mathare]

Someone would pay good money for that I bet.

Where is Vegy these days anyway?

[scoobydoo]

Where is Vegy these days anyway?

Yeah and John....I am not saying he would watch it ... but he hasn't been on for ages has he?

[barneymather]

Aye, the live news broadcasts are getting out of hand. I won't be surprised if my BBC region sends a reporter to send a 'live action report' should an old dear slip on a banana skin. I really can't see the point of attempting to bestow importance on the trivial, as it's fooling no one.

Live reports can be justified if it's a story about a major crime or if it's a policy change which has consequences for much of the public, but not for run-of-the-mill news items. I feel sorry for the poor sod who's sent by his news editor to shiver on a motorway bridge on a lousy night in January to 'report' on an issue which no one's bothered about.

The problem with the Beeb is that they see licence payers' money as a bottomless pit into which they can dip their mitts whenever they feel like it.

Rather than put up with the Yanks' telly model of 10 adverts a minute, I actually support the idea of public subscription TV if those who run the channels use their power responsibly, but sadly they always abuse the trust placed in them and in the long run will just put themselves out of a job. Spending 14 million quid a year on taxis is just taking the p*ss.

[Win2Win]

Yeah and John....I am not saying he would watch it ... but he hasn't been on for ages has he?

John's still alive and kicking now and again on FB

[scoobydoo]

John's still alive and kicking now and again on FB

Oh good, tell the misery to drop in and say hello then.