The BBC gets away with it
The BBC ‘s director general Mark Thompson must be joking.
“Defending the £6 million pay package to Ross and other stars, Mr Thompson said that “disclosure of this kind is likely to lead, not to better value for money” but “fresh upward pressure on pay”, saying that Graham Norton or Anne Robinson or others could not be described as “public decision-makers or public officers of the BBC”.
Still, this is one silly gamey statement in a pretty unapologetic defence of the BBC way of doing things. Now that bankers and politicians have taken so much heat, the BBC can afford to go late and go public with its top persons’ expenses. They don’t look so bad, after all. My impression is that few people care very much about the BBC’s occasional extravagances, with so much else going on. Contrary to what the Times insinuates, we know full well that the cost of “talent” will reduce by between 25% and 40%. Will those ridiculous top salaries for executives follow? That’s the one to watch. Slightly unreasonably, Mike White in the Guardian sees the black hand of Murdoch behind the Times’ criticism. (His own paper is just as critical). Murdoch has to face his own pressures. In a bid to increase competition, the regulator Ofcom is trying to force the Murdoch-controlled Sky to share its premium movie and sports channels with others. What others, since the collapse of Setanta? I always thought it rough that people had to pay two subscriptions to watch some football. Top soccer is one slice of the media where the market rules, whatever the regulator may wish for.. The test of the market is whether another competitor can take on Sky.
Most of the expenses seem reasonable but some of the salaries are a little too high for an industry with a huge surplus of talent but few actual employers. Really, where is Ross going to get a better offer from? (same goes for most everyone at RTE)
I hear there’s worse to come.
It seems that in buildings throughtout the UK and beyond the BBC has been providing free toilets exclusively for the use of BBC staff.
Licence fee payers are also expected to provide the fat cat broadcasters with special soft paper which they use to swab their filthy anuses.
Meanwhile innocent people are being murdered in their homes by marauding bands of TV Licence inspectors.
The issue is funding
Commercial TV have to make profits to survive . They can pay whatever salaries etc they like –if they can generate the funds
The BBC is funded via a compulsory levy -whether we use their serices or not.
Scrap the licence fee let the beb sink or swim on the the funds it can raise.
(ha ha ahaha )
“The BBC gets away with it”
Media protects self from story shocker
Mark Thompson is sitting in his office laughing to the sound of Jacko.
Re: licence – do what I do. Get rid of your telly, don’t pay a licence.
if you ever have the misfortune to stumble across steven nolan on the radio..move on.he actually said when askd about how much he earns that he wants to earn as much as possible and more! funny didnt see him in the audience at john pilger gig.’when i am king you will be first against the wall’…