Post by Teddy Bear on Feb 14, 2010 18:59:44 GMT
Just consider the headline for a moment.....
[glow=red,2,300]BBC has 382 staff earning more than £100,000[/glow]
How well they must think they do their jobs to deserve it, but for the life of me as a viewer of as much of their output as I can stomach, I can't imagine what it could be. A deteriorating service. poor quality programming, some of dubious motive, the most blatant covered here and here, and many many repeats to make up for their present day lack of creativity.
If you think they're not all too aware of this fact for themselves then consider this "However, the BBC has refused to disclose the names of the majority of those on the list or say what they do to justify their salaries."
Obviously nothing to justify it.
The BBC charter requires All programs and services should be open minded, fair and show a respect for truth…
If those running it see it as nothing more than something to be milked for all they can, what respect for anything can we expect, much less truth?
Just plain crooked slime out to grab whatever they can while giving less and less for it, while pursuing their own agenda. What a great message for society. Be sure they will continue to speak in their mealy mouthed 'posh' manner to make the public think that they are really 'civilised' - or as Winston Churchill said from a speech referring to the BBC in the House of Commons, February 22, 1933 (hat tip Millie Tant) this copious stream of pontifical, anonymous mugwumpery with which we have been dosed for so long."
BBC has 382 staff earning more than £100,000
The BBC paid hundreds of its staff more than £100,000 last year despite its leaders' claims that the corporation is run efficiently.
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Media Correspondent
Published: 9:00PM GMT 13 Feb 2010
There were 382 executives who received six-figure salaries, with as many as 58 earning more than the Prime Minister's £194,250-a-year wage.
A "100k list" obtained by The Sunday Telegraph shows that the total cost of the high earners' salaries was the equivalent of the television licence fees paid by 400,000 households.
However, the BBC has refused to disclose the names of the majority of those on the list or say what they do to justify their salaries.
Gordon Brown has called on all publicly-funded bodies, including the BBC, to name staff who are paid more than £150,000.
Last night, senior Conservatives criticised the corporation's failure to be more transparent and expressed concern over its level of accountability.
Their comments follow a turbulent week for the BBC, in which it was attacked for the amount of money spent on 'talent' and expenses and Mark Thompson, the director general, was questioned by the House of Commons spending watchdog over the secrecy surrounding individual stars' pay.
While the names and salaries of the BBC's 107 most senior executives were published in November, the 100k list, released under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, shows the full extent of its payments to high-ranking staff.
For each high earner, the list states which BBC division he or she works in, gives a broad job description such as "producer" or "commissioner", and provides a salary band. Names, job titles and precise salaries have been withheld.
In 2009, out of the 384 employees on the list, just under half were paid between £100,000 and £130,000; nearly a quarter received between £130,000 and £159,999, and nearly a third were on more than £160,000.
The highest earners were Mark Thompson, the director general on £664,000, and Mark Byford, the deputy director general on £471,000.
Of the BBC's different divisions, BBC Vision, which is responsible for television content, has the largest number of highly-paid staff, taking up around a third of the places on the 100k list.
Only around one in 10 of those on the list work in the BBC Journalism group, which oversees news and sport.
Producers in BBC Vision, which was created in 2006, were paid up to £190,000 last year. So were executives in the BBC Marketing division.
The salaries dwarf those of MPs, whose earn a basic £65,000 a year, and nurses, whose average salary is £26,500.
The figures are likely to anger licence fee payers as well as many of the BBC's 20,000 staff, the large majority of whom are on much lower wages.
Mr Thompson has acted to quell public disquiet at the large salaries by proposing that the pay of the top 20 executives to be frozen for the next three years.
This suggestion has been backed by the BBC Trust, the governing body, which has also agreed to place a pay freeze on the next 630 senior managers for one year.
These moves are part of an attempt to reduce the corporation's £79 million annual bill for senior managers' salaries by a quarter over the next three years.
Although staff bonuses were suspended in January 2009, another document released in response to an FOI request shows that £1.5 million was nevertheless paid out in bonuses staff last year.
This is significantly lower than the £15.7 million total handed out in bonuses in 2008.
The documents released to this newspaper exclude its 'talent', which refers to presenters and contributors, as well as staff at BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commerical arm.
The BBC bowed to pressure last week and disclosed that it spends £229 million a year on 'talent', including £70 million a year on its top stars.
However, it refused to reveal exactly how much was paid to the highest earners, such as Fiona Bruce and Graham Norton.
The corporation is under mounting pressure from MPs over its lack of transparency.
Ed Vaizey, the shadow arts minister, called its stance unacceptable and urged it to publish the salaries.
"The licence fee payers have a right to know," he said.
"We are living in an era of transparency and the BBC has to take part in that rather than stand behind the curtain. It shouldn't try to fob people off with superficial information."
Richard Bacon, a member of the Public Accounts Committee which questioned Mr Thompson last week over the salaries of the BBC's top presenters, claimed that the National Audit Office should have complete freedom in analysing the corporation's accounts.
At present, the Audit Office must wait to be invited by the BBC Trust before assessing how money is being spent.
"We don't have anything like enough freedom to scrutinise what the BBC is doing with our money," he said.
"This will make people fearful that there are people who are unaccountable. It is common sense that people who are paid a great deal of money from public funds should reveal what they are paid."
Defending the level of pay, a BBC spokesman said: "The BBC is extremely conscious about the public's feeling about top salaries in the current climate and that the salaries we pay are met by the public, but we have to balance that with the need to attract the best professional talent in order to produce the high quality programmes and services licence fee payers expect."
On the decision to name only the top 107 employees, the spokesman said: "The BBC has gone further than any other publicly-funded organisation in proactively publishing the pay and expenses of its senior leaders.
"However we must balance our commitment to openness with the privacy of the individual – a balance we believe we have met by publishing the exact salaries of the 107 leaders with the greatest salary, responsibility or influence."
The spokesman added that the bonuses which had been paid last year had been contractually agreed prior to the introduction of the freeze.
The list released under the Freedom of Information Act and published online by The Sunday Telegraph gives limited details of the 300 highest-earning executives. The BBC told this newspaper that a further 82 executives, in undisclosed roles and divisions, also earn more than £100,000, taking the total number on six-figure salaries to 382.
[glow=red,2,300]BBC has 382 staff earning more than £100,000[/glow]
How well they must think they do their jobs to deserve it, but for the life of me as a viewer of as much of their output as I can stomach, I can't imagine what it could be. A deteriorating service. poor quality programming, some of dubious motive, the most blatant covered here and here, and many many repeats to make up for their present day lack of creativity.
If you think they're not all too aware of this fact for themselves then consider this "However, the BBC has refused to disclose the names of the majority of those on the list or say what they do to justify their salaries."
Obviously nothing to justify it.
The BBC charter requires All programs and services should be open minded, fair and show a respect for truth…
If those running it see it as nothing more than something to be milked for all they can, what respect for anything can we expect, much less truth?
Just plain crooked slime out to grab whatever they can while giving less and less for it, while pursuing their own agenda. What a great message for society. Be sure they will continue to speak in their mealy mouthed 'posh' manner to make the public think that they are really 'civilised' - or as Winston Churchill said from a speech referring to the BBC in the House of Commons, February 22, 1933 (hat tip Millie Tant) this copious stream of pontifical, anonymous mugwumpery with which we have been dosed for so long."
BBC has 382 staff earning more than £100,000
The BBC paid hundreds of its staff more than £100,000 last year despite its leaders' claims that the corporation is run efficiently.
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Media Correspondent
Published: 9:00PM GMT 13 Feb 2010
There were 382 executives who received six-figure salaries, with as many as 58 earning more than the Prime Minister's £194,250-a-year wage.
A "100k list" obtained by The Sunday Telegraph shows that the total cost of the high earners' salaries was the equivalent of the television licence fees paid by 400,000 households.
However, the BBC has refused to disclose the names of the majority of those on the list or say what they do to justify their salaries.
Gordon Brown has called on all publicly-funded bodies, including the BBC, to name staff who are paid more than £150,000.
Last night, senior Conservatives criticised the corporation's failure to be more transparent and expressed concern over its level of accountability.
Their comments follow a turbulent week for the BBC, in which it was attacked for the amount of money spent on 'talent' and expenses and Mark Thompson, the director general, was questioned by the House of Commons spending watchdog over the secrecy surrounding individual stars' pay.
While the names and salaries of the BBC's 107 most senior executives were published in November, the 100k list, released under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, shows the full extent of its payments to high-ranking staff.
For each high earner, the list states which BBC division he or she works in, gives a broad job description such as "producer" or "commissioner", and provides a salary band. Names, job titles and precise salaries have been withheld.
In 2009, out of the 384 employees on the list, just under half were paid between £100,000 and £130,000; nearly a quarter received between £130,000 and £159,999, and nearly a third were on more than £160,000.
The highest earners were Mark Thompson, the director general on £664,000, and Mark Byford, the deputy director general on £471,000.
Of the BBC's different divisions, BBC Vision, which is responsible for television content, has the largest number of highly-paid staff, taking up around a third of the places on the 100k list.
Only around one in 10 of those on the list work in the BBC Journalism group, which oversees news and sport.
Producers in BBC Vision, which was created in 2006, were paid up to £190,000 last year. So were executives in the BBC Marketing division.
The salaries dwarf those of MPs, whose earn a basic £65,000 a year, and nurses, whose average salary is £26,500.
The figures are likely to anger licence fee payers as well as many of the BBC's 20,000 staff, the large majority of whom are on much lower wages.
Mr Thompson has acted to quell public disquiet at the large salaries by proposing that the pay of the top 20 executives to be frozen for the next three years.
This suggestion has been backed by the BBC Trust, the governing body, which has also agreed to place a pay freeze on the next 630 senior managers for one year.
These moves are part of an attempt to reduce the corporation's £79 million annual bill for senior managers' salaries by a quarter over the next three years.
Although staff bonuses were suspended in January 2009, another document released in response to an FOI request shows that £1.5 million was nevertheless paid out in bonuses staff last year.
This is significantly lower than the £15.7 million total handed out in bonuses in 2008.
The documents released to this newspaper exclude its 'talent', which refers to presenters and contributors, as well as staff at BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commerical arm.
The BBC bowed to pressure last week and disclosed that it spends £229 million a year on 'talent', including £70 million a year on its top stars.
However, it refused to reveal exactly how much was paid to the highest earners, such as Fiona Bruce and Graham Norton.
The corporation is under mounting pressure from MPs over its lack of transparency.
Ed Vaizey, the shadow arts minister, called its stance unacceptable and urged it to publish the salaries.
"The licence fee payers have a right to know," he said.
"We are living in an era of transparency and the BBC has to take part in that rather than stand behind the curtain. It shouldn't try to fob people off with superficial information."
Richard Bacon, a member of the Public Accounts Committee which questioned Mr Thompson last week over the salaries of the BBC's top presenters, claimed that the National Audit Office should have complete freedom in analysing the corporation's accounts.
At present, the Audit Office must wait to be invited by the BBC Trust before assessing how money is being spent.
"We don't have anything like enough freedom to scrutinise what the BBC is doing with our money," he said.
"This will make people fearful that there are people who are unaccountable. It is common sense that people who are paid a great deal of money from public funds should reveal what they are paid."
Defending the level of pay, a BBC spokesman said: "The BBC is extremely conscious about the public's feeling about top salaries in the current climate and that the salaries we pay are met by the public, but we have to balance that with the need to attract the best professional talent in order to produce the high quality programmes and services licence fee payers expect."
On the decision to name only the top 107 employees, the spokesman said: "The BBC has gone further than any other publicly-funded organisation in proactively publishing the pay and expenses of its senior leaders.
"However we must balance our commitment to openness with the privacy of the individual – a balance we believe we have met by publishing the exact salaries of the 107 leaders with the greatest salary, responsibility or influence."
The spokesman added that the bonuses which had been paid last year had been contractually agreed prior to the introduction of the freeze.
The list released under the Freedom of Information Act and published online by The Sunday Telegraph gives limited details of the 300 highest-earning executives. The BBC told this newspaper that a further 82 executives, in undisclosed roles and divisions, also earn more than £100,000, taking the total number on six-figure salaries to 382.