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Culture
Secretary and The BBC
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has called on the BBC to be
more open about how much it pays its top stars.
Speaking today on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show, Hunt said that the corporation
should be clear about how it spends the public's money.
Earlier this month the BBC Trust said details of star pay would be revealed
in bands, but not individual salaries.
Hunt said the public was "genuinely divided" over the issue and needed to
make up their own minds.
"The difficulty here is that the public is genuinely divided - some people
say 'why should we pay huge salaries for stars on the BBC when we can see
them on ITV?'," he said.
"Other people say 'look, one of the reasons I pay my licence
fee is I want to see people like Brucie doing Strictly Come Dancing'.
"There is a genuine division there and I think the best way to resolve that
is for the BBC to be open about the packages that it pays to celebrities."
Hunt said he also wanted to meet BBC director general, Mark Thompson, to
discuss the salaries the corporation pays its top executives.
He said while the BBC had made "some steps in the right direction" it needed
to show it was on the "same planet as everyone else" when it came to pay for
top executives.
The BBC recently announced it would reduce the pay of its top executives and
slim down its senior management.
Hunt also said the way that the licence fee is collected may have to change
to keep up with changes in technology.
And he also signalled that the BBC should consider reducing
its online activity.
"The web is a very good area where the BBC needs to have clearer red lines
on what it will and won't do."
July
25
2010 - waveguide.co.uk
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