BBC execs receive mammoth bonus despite scandal
Thursday, July 10th, 2008Beeb bonus boob after phone-in pharce
Two BBC executives have received mammoth pay rises, in spite of a series of deception scandals last year. Director of BBC Vision Jana Bennett and outgoing director of audio and vision Jenny Abramsky both received bonuses totalling over £40,000 on top of a hefty 16% pay rise. In contrast, staff members received an average rise of only 4%. A further 1,800 BBC staff are facing possible redundancy as the corporation looks to cut costs.
The two executives have been embroiled in a series of deception scandals over the last year, including faking phone-in competition winners on Children in Need and Comic Relief, and on radio programmes hosted by Jo Whiley, Claire McDonnell and Liz Kershaw. Russell Brand’s Radio 6 music show was falsely billed as being live, and a competition winner was faked. The BBC also came under criticism for falsely suggesting that the Queen had stormed out of a photoshoot. Let’s also not forget the fact that the BBC also green-lighted the epic fail of Lily Allen’s chat show. 
In spite of the scandals, Miss Bennett (right) received a 24% pay rise in the last financial year bringing her salary to £536,000, including a £23,000 bonus, while Miss Abramsky (left) was paid £419,000 up from £329,000 the previous year. Her bonus amounted to £19,000.
BBC director general Mark Thompson defended the pay rises, saying that they could not compare to the huge rises and bonuses that the commercial sector offered.
“When you actually get out in the external world, some potential candidates almost roll on the floor laughing when you talk about potential level of pay,” he said. “In areas where we had big issues with phone lines and the Queen documentary, we decided we should apply significant discounts of up to 40%,” Thompson added.
For the fourth year running, Thompson waived his own bonus of £55,000. In contrast, ITV executive chairman Michael Grade earned £813,000 last year, with a bonus of £967,000.
Nonetheless, Conservative MP David Davis expressed disgust at the rises, accusing the BBC of “rewarding failure”.
“For a publicly funded organisation to be award six-figure pay rises shows an absolutely extraordinary lack of knowledge about what is going on in the rest of the workplace. It is an insult to all those that are struggling to pay their TV licences.”
Maybe Davis ought to resign again to show everyone how disgusted he is, and then rejoin the cabinet in a couple of months when everyone’s forgotten about it.
