BBC executives’ pay up again
Francis Sedgemore, Tuesday 8 July 2008
In defending pay rises of up to £107,000 for senior BBC executives, the corporation’s director general Mark Thompson is reported to have said:
“When you actually get out into the external world, some potential candidates almost roll on the floor laughing when you talk about potential levels of pay.”
Assuming that Thompson wasn’t being facetious, the “potential candidates” to whom he refers have a serious attitude problem. And as such they have no place in the upper echelons of the BBC, or anywhere else for that matter.
If Thompson was being facetious, there is clearly no place in the BBC for him.
An edited version of this post was published as a letter in the Wednesday 9 July edition of the Guardian newspaper.
Feed the writer! 
Tuesday 8 July 2008 at 13:52 GMT
I agree entirely, if you increase wages you’d never be able again to distinguish those that have high earnings as their key motivation from those better candidates that want those jobs to help deliver a better public broadcast.
Tuesday 8 July 2008 at 16:47 GMT
Max – this is a problem throughout medialand, and I have to wonder at the calibre of some of those appointed to top positions in the BBC and other broadcast companies, and also the national press.
I tend to the view that the market should be left mostly if not entirely to its own devices when it comes to setting wage levels. With a public sector body such as the BBC, the situation is a little different than it would be for a privately-owned broadcaster, in that you and I are “shareholders”, and should therefore have a say in how the corporation is run.
That said, the salary levels we see among top media executives are getting silly. It’s not just the BBC and ITV, but also national newspapers. With the BBC one would expect a degree of public service mindedness among its executive directors, and with that a willingness to accept less than they would get in the private sector.
But that’s not the real point of my post. What irks me is Thompson’s haughty dismissal of typical BBC executive salaries, and his portrayal of those he is headhunting to lead the corporation. If they are indeed snorting contemptuously during their job interviews, then as far as I’m concerned they can fuck off. Otherwise, they should respectfully turn down job offers from the BBC. There are I’m sure plenty of hard working and talented junior staff within the corporation who are worthy of promotion to executive office.
And as for Mark Thompson himself, he should remember who is is and what he is: the chief executive of a world-respected cultural institution. If Thompson can’t hack it then he should go and manage Acme Paper Clips plc or whatever.
Thursday 10 July 2008 at 12:00 GMT
Shame they edited out “or anywhere else for that matter” in the Guardian version of this post. Should we read anything into that (Grauniad editor Alan Rubbisher’s salary+bonus = £520,000+)?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/what-happened-when-the-guardian-editor-met-piers-morgan-442870.html
Thursday 10 July 2008 at 12:04 GMT
You could, if you were feeling particularly uncharitable toward Mr Rusbridger.
It’s more likely to be a subbing issue. However, having not seen the dead tree version of yesterday’s paper I cannot comment on the layout.