Pay row cuts into BBC male journo salaries

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EARNING CURVE: Jon Sopel is one of the six presenters who has agreed to a salary cut
EARNING CURVE: Jon Sopel is one of the six presenters who has agreed to a salary cut

London - The broadcaster was forced to disclose last year that two thirds of the highest earners on air were men.

By Reuters

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Published: Fri 26 Jan 2018, 10:00 PM

Last updated: Sat 27 Jan 2018, 12:27 AM

Six of the highest paid male BBC journalists have agreed to pay cuts, the broadcaster said on Friday, following revelations that its top male news reporters and presenters were earning significantly more than women doing similar jobs.
Radio broadcasters Jeremy Vine, John Humphrys, Nick Robinson and Nicky Campbell, news anchor Huw Edwards and North America editor Jon Sopel had all agreed either formally or in principle to salary cuts, the BBC said on its website.
The broadcaster was forced to disclose last year that two thirds of the highest earners on air were men. Funded by a licence fee levied on TV viewers, the BBC is closely scrutinised and held to exacting standards by the public and rival media. The pay disclosures, which it had resisted, highlighted a broader debate about gender inequality. Director-General Tony Hall pledged to close the gender pay gap by 2020, but the organisation has been criticised by its own journalists and by lawmakers for not acting fast enough.
Its China editor Carrie Gracie, who was paid significantly less than her male counterparts, resigned her role last month to fight against what she called the "secretive and illegal BBC pay culture".
North America editor Sopel, one of the six who had agreed to a salary cut, earned between £200,000 and £249,999 in 2016/17, the pay disclosures showed. 
Gracie said she was paid £135,000 a year as China editor.


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