Striving for equality

How do you get a BBC star to take a pay cut ?  The equal pay tribunal featuring Samira Ahmed v The BBC has been presented with emails between Jon Swain, head of popular factual at BBC Studios and Lisa Opie, who, in 2017/8 was his boss.  Jon outlined his poker strategy to cut Jeremy Vine's £3k per show fee for presenting Points of View.

 "Jeremy has been pretty understanding and indicated ... that he'd want £1,500 (think that's half his current rate) but hinted that he would probably settle at £1,300.

"I believe stand-in presenters have been paid £1k and been very happy (easy money as it's so little work). Let me know if that's enough ammo/information to get him to £1,300."

In the end Mr Vine settled for £1,500, which included National Insurance payments.

Points of View producer Simon Miller described the many talents of Mr Vine in a witness statement.
He said Jeremy “brought his own style”, editing the prepared script, ready to “dress up for small visual gags” and presenting with "a bit of a glint in his eye”. “Often a statement from the BBC on the show, might not really answer a viewer’s question, or answer it in a ‘managerial’ way. Jeremy would roll his eyes, as if to say, ‘I’ve heard all that before’. Although that was in the script, it was believable coming from him.”

The tribunal also heard from James Mallet, producer of Newswatch, who said he wasn't looking for personality in a presenter:"I would not expect that to happen because the feeling amongst the audience is that they want the news and news programmes to be delivered straight and neutral". Ms Ahmed had said she had a significant role in shaping the programme’s agenda. Mr Mallet begged to differ, claiming her suggestions of topics were “things she has seen on Twitter” which were “often not a reflection of the concerns of our broad audience. I would say I am the person who shapes Newswatch.”

Meanwhile fearless Emily Maitlis yesterday ventured on to GMTV to support Ms Ahmed; presumably she'll recuse herself from Newsnight coverage of the outcome.

And Lord Grade wrote to The Times: "As a one-time talent agent and later a BBC executive, I can say with conviction that very, very few, if any, editorial or on-screen jobs in the BBC are identical and therefore comparable. Yes, the BBC needs to address any gender bias in pay and rations. But it could do so without having been required to invade talent privacy. As with most organisations, there are no secrets inside the BBC about who is getting paid what."