BBC earnings announcement highlights lack of diversity among highest-paid stars
The channel's annual report has unearthed some controversial findings
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Your support makes all the difference.The BBC's annual salary report has been released revealing the corporation's highest paid television stars and, as expected, the findings have thrown forward some worrying statistics.
As well as the fact that the seven presenters earning over £500,000 a year are all men, the findings also reflect a lack of diversity among the channel's highest earners with only ten people of colour on the overall list of 96.
BuzzFeed reports that six named personalities are black or mixed-race while four of them are Asian. In addition, a mere two - newsreader George Alagiah and DJ Trevor Nelson - earn over £250,000.
The other eight stars on the list include EastEnders stars Tameka Epsom and Diane Parish as well as economics editor Kamal Ahmed and broadcaster Moira Stuart (all £150,000-199,999).
The corporation's top earner is radio presenter Chris Evans who earns between £2.2m and £2.25m - more than four times the channel's highest earning woman Claudia Winkleman (between £450,00 and £499,000). Gary Lineker, Graham Norton and Jeremy Vine were also named as the channel's highest earners.
The BBC has previously said it wants to address a gender and diversity imbalance with the organisation working towards a goal of 15% black and ethnic minority talent by 2020.
BBC Director General Tony Hall said: “On gender and diversity, the BBC is more diverse than the broadcasting industry and the Civil Service. We have set the most stretching targets in the industry for on-air diversity and we’ve made progress, but we recognise there is more to do and we are pushing further and faster than any other broadcaster.“
He went on: “At the moment, of the talent earning over £150,000, two-thirds are men and one-third are women. We’ve set a clear target for 2020: we want all our lead and presenting roles to be equally divided between men and women. And it’s already having a huge impact. If you look at those on the list who we have hired or promoted in the last three years, 60% are women and nearly a fifth come from a BAME background.
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