Post by Teddy Bear on Jun 27, 2008 18:23:51 GMT
Jonathan Ross's salary must be monitored, says House of Lords committee
By Nicole Martin, Digital and Media Corresondent
Last Updated: 1:40AM BST 27/06/2008
The BBC's governing body must monitor the salaries of its highest-paid presenters to make sure they do not eat into news budgets, a House of Lords committee says today.
It says that the BBC Trust should ensure that the wages of celebrities such as Jonathan Ross, who reputedly earns £18 million in a three-year deal, do not affect the BBC's ability to deliver high-quality news programmes.
The warning from the House of Lords Communications Committee comes only weeks after the Trust disclosed that the BBC spent £242 million on on-air and on-screen presenters last year.
It also revealed that spending on the most popular 50 presenters was growing at more than six per cent a year – more than twice the rate of inflation.
In its wider report on media ownership, The House of Lords committee said that the salaries of presenters represented "a considerable" proportion of the BBC's licence-fee funded budget
"Salaries like Mr Ross can only be afforded after the public service duties like news and current affairs have been financed", the report says.
"We recommend that the BBC Trust should monitor closely spending growth in this area to ensure that the corporation can adequately fulfil and fund all its public purposes and particularly news and current affairs."
Ross provoked fury last year after joking that his £6 million annual salary was "worth 1,000 BBC journalists".
His comments came as the corporation prepared for possible strike action over the decision to axe 1,800 jobs because of a £2 billion funding deficit.
By Nicole Martin, Digital and Media Corresondent
Last Updated: 1:40AM BST 27/06/2008
The BBC's governing body must monitor the salaries of its highest-paid presenters to make sure they do not eat into news budgets, a House of Lords committee says today.
It says that the BBC Trust should ensure that the wages of celebrities such as Jonathan Ross, who reputedly earns £18 million in a three-year deal, do not affect the BBC's ability to deliver high-quality news programmes.
The warning from the House of Lords Communications Committee comes only weeks after the Trust disclosed that the BBC spent £242 million on on-air and on-screen presenters last year.
It also revealed that spending on the most popular 50 presenters was growing at more than six per cent a year – more than twice the rate of inflation.
In its wider report on media ownership, The House of Lords committee said that the salaries of presenters represented "a considerable" proportion of the BBC's licence-fee funded budget
"Salaries like Mr Ross can only be afforded after the public service duties like news and current affairs have been financed", the report says.
"We recommend that the BBC Trust should monitor closely spending growth in this area to ensure that the corporation can adequately fulfil and fund all its public purposes and particularly news and current affairs."
Ross provoked fury last year after joking that his £6 million annual salary was "worth 1,000 BBC journalists".
His comments came as the corporation prepared for possible strike action over the decision to axe 1,800 jobs because of a £2 billion funding deficit.