Post by Teddy Bear on Apr 27, 2011 19:42:37 GMT
I believe you can imagine easily what I would write about Thompson's claim here.
Bear this in mind:
His comments come days after figures disclosed that expenses claimed by senior BBC executives went up 60 per cent in three months, from £122,733 in the third quarter of last year to £195,891 in the final quarter.
Bear this in mind:
His comments come days after figures disclosed that expenses claimed by senior BBC executives went up 60 per cent in three months, from £122,733 in the third quarter of last year to £195,891 in the final quarter.
We pay too little to fill top jobs, says BBC boss Mark Thompson (who earns £838,000 a year)
By Paul Revoir
Last updated at 8:15 AM on 27th April 2011
The BBC’s director general has claimed the corporation is finding it ‘extremely hard’ to fill senior roles because of the low wages it pays for management jobs.
Mark Thompson, who earned £838,000 last year, told a parliamentary hearing it was ‘not true to say there is a long queue of people’ hoping for high-level jobs at the corporation.
He claimed bosses at the BBC are paid substantially less – said to be between 50 per cent and 80 per cent – than they would be elsewhere in the industry.
Mark Thompson, who earned £838,000 last year, told a parliamentary hearing it was 'not true to say there is a long queue of people' hoping for high-level jobs at the corporation
Mark Thompson said he was 'led to believe' former BBC1 controller Jay Hunt had been given 'a very significant pay rise' when she joined Channel 4
'Out of touch': BBC director general Mark Thompson said the corporation was finding it hard to fill top jobs due to low wages. He said former BBC1 controller Jay Hunt had been given ‘a very significant pay rise’ when she joined Channel 4
But critics accused him of being ‘out of touch’ and insisted there was high demand for BBC jobs, with more than 10,000 applying for 500 new positions at the BBC’s Media City in Salford Quays.
Others pointed out that the corporation has been criticised for the high salaries it awards senior managers. Earlier this year it was revealed that up to 135 BBC executives earn more than Prime Minister David Cameron, who receives £142,500.
It is thought about 310 BBC staff are earning more than £100,000.
Mr Thompson, who has cut his own pay and that of other senior executives in a bid to curb the anger over high salaries, told the House of Lords Communications Committee: ‘It’s extremely hard now to fill senior jobs in the BBC and increasingly remuneration is a factor.’
He claimed pay at the BBC was ‘substantially less’ than for equivalent jobs at other broadcasters and added he was ‘led to believe’ former BBC1 controller Jay Hunt had been given ‘a very significant pay rise’ when she joined Channel 4.
He said the BBC stressed the ‘special advantages’ of working for the corporation but insisted the prestige was not enough to guarantee roles would be filled.
He said: ‘It’s not true to say there is a long queue of people waiting for these senior jobs and the last time the BBC was looking for a director general I believe there were two candidates... I was one.’
But Lady Deech, a former member of the BBC’s board of governors who is on the Lords committee, said the broadcaster was ‘top to bottom’ a public service organisation and told Mr Thompson that the commercial sector ‘might be the wrong benchmark’.
Charlotte Linacre, campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘It will come as a sharp shock to hard pressed taxpayers, who feel the impact of stumping up for the licence fee, that BBC bosses consider hundreds of thousands of pounds as peanuts.
‘Mark Thompson’s comments in the Lords make him seem out of touch with the ordinary people he is meant to communicate with.’
And Tory MP John Whittingdale, who chairs the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, said: ‘The salaries for senior management at the BBC are still considerably higher than people would expect.
‘I would find it very difficult to believe that the corporation is struggling to recruit staff because of the pay.’
By Paul Revoir
Last updated at 8:15 AM on 27th April 2011
The BBC’s director general has claimed the corporation is finding it ‘extremely hard’ to fill senior roles because of the low wages it pays for management jobs.
Mark Thompson, who earned £838,000 last year, told a parliamentary hearing it was ‘not true to say there is a long queue of people’ hoping for high-level jobs at the corporation.
He claimed bosses at the BBC are paid substantially less – said to be between 50 per cent and 80 per cent – than they would be elsewhere in the industry.
Mark Thompson, who earned £838,000 last year, told a parliamentary hearing it was 'not true to say there is a long queue of people' hoping for high-level jobs at the corporation
Mark Thompson said he was 'led to believe' former BBC1 controller Jay Hunt had been given 'a very significant pay rise' when she joined Channel 4
'Out of touch': BBC director general Mark Thompson said the corporation was finding it hard to fill top jobs due to low wages. He said former BBC1 controller Jay Hunt had been given ‘a very significant pay rise’ when she joined Channel 4
But critics accused him of being ‘out of touch’ and insisted there was high demand for BBC jobs, with more than 10,000 applying for 500 new positions at the BBC’s Media City in Salford Quays.
Others pointed out that the corporation has been criticised for the high salaries it awards senior managers. Earlier this year it was revealed that up to 135 BBC executives earn more than Prime Minister David Cameron, who receives £142,500.
It is thought about 310 BBC staff are earning more than £100,000.
Mr Thompson, who has cut his own pay and that of other senior executives in a bid to curb the anger over high salaries, told the House of Lords Communications Committee: ‘It’s extremely hard now to fill senior jobs in the BBC and increasingly remuneration is a factor.’
He claimed pay at the BBC was ‘substantially less’ than for equivalent jobs at other broadcasters and added he was ‘led to believe’ former BBC1 controller Jay Hunt had been given ‘a very significant pay rise’ when she joined Channel 4.
He said the BBC stressed the ‘special advantages’ of working for the corporation but insisted the prestige was not enough to guarantee roles would be filled.
He said: ‘It’s not true to say there is a long queue of people waiting for these senior jobs and the last time the BBC was looking for a director general I believe there were two candidates... I was one.’
But Lady Deech, a former member of the BBC’s board of governors who is on the Lords committee, said the broadcaster was ‘top to bottom’ a public service organisation and told Mr Thompson that the commercial sector ‘might be the wrong benchmark’.
Charlotte Linacre, campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘It will come as a sharp shock to hard pressed taxpayers, who feel the impact of stumping up for the licence fee, that BBC bosses consider hundreds of thousands of pounds as peanuts.
‘Mark Thompson’s comments in the Lords make him seem out of touch with the ordinary people he is meant to communicate with.’
And Tory MP John Whittingdale, who chairs the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, said: ‘The salaries for senior management at the BBC are still considerably higher than people would expect.
‘I would find it very difficult to believe that the corporation is struggling to recruit staff because of the pay.’