Nothing seems to excite BBC reporters more than covering stories about the BBC. You can tell it in the tone of their voice. Look at us, they are saying, we’re so professional and impartial that we dare do stories on our own bosses in the same way as we would on the government or on some miscreant private sector company. It was inevitable, therefore, that the revelation of the identities of 96 BBC presenters paid more than £150,000 a year, would top the BBC news agenda this morning. I wouldn’t take too seriously stories that the presenters themselves are nervous about the public reaction – my guess is that those covering the story really rather enjoyed this morning.
It also gave the BBC the opportunity, of course, to put their own spin on the story – which was to try to turn it into an issue of gender inequality, on the basis that only a third of the recipients of salaries over £150,000 are women.
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