BBC BIAS DIGEST DIGEST 11 OCTOBER 2020

BBC ‘PUSHES  RE-IMAGINED FAIRY TALES’ TO AVOID ‘BAD MESSAGES’: Kurt Zendulka (Breitbart 11/10) said that the BBC was promoting  a series of ‘woke’ versions of fairy tales by former BBC Blue Peter presenter  Konnie Huq, who had been inspired to write them by her battles to win pay parity with men. Mr Zendulka reported that in Ms Huq’s book Fearless Fairy Tales, Sleeping Beauty had become ‘Sleeping Brainy’  while ‘Gretel and Hansel’ saw the former resenting the fact her twin brother was paid more for the same sweet-shop labour.

GOVERNMENT ‘COULD PRIVATISE CHANNEL 4’:  Ben Woods (£ Telegraph 11/10) suggested that ‘ministers’ were considering whether Channel 4 – currently state-owned – should be privatised and also whether ITV and Channel 5’s public service obligations should be scrapped. Mr Woods noted that media minister John Whittingdale had earlier in the week questioned whether Channel 4 – which had been forced during the pandemic to cuts its production budget by £150m and find £95m in savings – had a viable future in its current form. Mr Woods added that ITV and Channel 5 were both lobbying about public service obligations because they entailed higher costs and attracted smaller audiences than game shows and drama.

BBC STARS ‘PAID MORE THAN DISCLOSED’:  Chris Hastings (Mail on Sunday 11/10) claimed that many of the BBC’s biggest stars were becoming resentful that the true earnings of some of their colleagues were not being disclosed because they received large percentages of their pay from BBC Studios, which kept such figures out of the public domain. Mr Hastings instanced Fiona Bruce, who he said enjoyed a disclosed income of £450,000 from her roles in news presenting and as host of BBC1 Question Time, but was actually thought to earn more than £1 million a year through additional programmes such as The Antiques Roadshow, which was made by BBC Studios. He added that the BBC had responded that the BBC Charter did not require it to disclose pay from BBC Studios.

 

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