By GB News (World News) | Created at 2025-03-10 16:31:08 | Updated at 2025-03-10 19:08:28
2 hours ago
The BBC has bigger problems to address than senior managers from diverse backgrounds being paid more than those who are not, it has been claimed.
Speaking on GB News, ex-BBC correspondent Danny Shaw joined Martin Daubney to discuss a new report which revealed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), ethnic minority, disabled and female senior managers earn larger salaries than those not from those backgrounds.
Shaw said the figures have been skewed by a small portion and will only serve to divert attention away from the real problem.
“We want pay parity and we want people from whatever background to earn broadly the same”, he said.
Shaw joined Martin Daubney on GB News
GB NEWS
“For all staff, it’s three per cent down, for senior managers, it’s about five per cent down. That’s a real issue.
“Secondly, it’s about diversity of thought. Never mind what colour or background you’re from, we need the BBC, in particularly news and current affairs, a whole range of issues that affect the whole country and that matter to people across the country, not just people who live in London or Greater Manchester with a liberal background or cosmopolitan way of thinking.”
Martin told the former BBC correspondent he agrees with the points he is making, but argued “two wrongs don’t make a right” and the broadcaster must figure out a way to make sure people who are straight, white or male are not at a disadvantage.
Shaw continued: “There’s a difference between disparity and discrimination. There are clearly disparities here.
The new BBC report makes for grim reading
Getty
“It might be because a small group of people from minority backgrounds have been hired on higher salaries. Historically, over the decades I was at the BBC, it was completely the other way around.
“I would walk around the BBC and see a lot of black people, from ethnic minority backgrounds working on cleaning shifts and in the canteen, you would not see those people as senior leaders at the BBC.
“That is wrong. I’m pleased that has been corrected but obviously, we need to get to pay parity.
“Crucially, we need to get to a situation where there isn’t groupthink at the BBC and people can come with diverse views and opinions, like some that are covered on GB News, that get covered on the BBC as well.
“That is what concerns me more frankly than some disparities in pay that may be due to just a small number of people in isolated examples.
“Diversity of thought is what we should be aiming at.”
Martin agreed resoundingly with the points being put forward, pointing out how he was often the “only commoner” while appearing on BBC panels in the past.
A BBC spokesman said: “The BBC is committed to fair and equal pay for all, and all appointments are made on merit.
“An external equal pay audit recently concluded that there was no evidence of systemic bias in our pay approach or policies.
“We continue to monitor our pay gaps closely and do expect to see small fluctuations year-on-year, and we’d advise against the selective use of figures.”
