Firms like the BBC can only afford to offer 'top talent' huge financial rewards by controlling costs down below, writes Mark Bank

Banks, Mark

LSE Research Online

BBC	pay:	We	need	equality	all	the	way	down	–	notjust	for	the	eliteThe	BBC	recently	published	the	salaries	of	all	staff	earning	above	£150,000	a	year,	sparking	much	controversyover	the	rewards	apparently	being	received	by	its	‘star’	broadcasters	and	on-screen	‘talent’.Of	particular	concern	were	the	huge	pay	differentials	between	men	and	women.	Of	the	top	20	highest	earners,three	quarters	were	men,	with	Chris	Evans	topping	the	list	with	an	annual	salary	of	over	£2	million.	The	highestpaid	woman	at	the	BBC,	Claudia	Winkelman,	earned	around	£400,000	–	less	than	a	quarter	of	Evans’s	salary.	Itseems	that	even	men	and	women	who	appear	to	be	doing	much	the	same	job	are	being	very	differently	paid.While	Nick	Robinson	and	Evan	Davis	receive	generous	salaries	of	around	£250,000	a	year,	their	Today	andNewsnight	co-presenters	–	Sarah	Montague	and	Emily	Maitlis	–	didn’t	appear	on	the	list	at	all.	In	response,around	40	of	the	BBC’s	most	prominent	women	executives	and	broadcasters	wrote	an	open	letter	to	BBCDirector	General	Tony	Hall	urging	him	to	‘act	now’	in	order	to	correct	the	gender	pay	gap.Certainly,	the	list	has	revealed	some	obvious	gender	inequalities	–	which	have	been	rightly	challenged.	Butlooking	at	the	list	more	closely,	other	inequalities	become	apparent	–	though	ones	that	have	provoked	much	lessangst	or	commentary.	For	example,	no	Black,	Asian	or	Minority	Ethnic	(BAME)	people	feature	amongst	the	24staff	earning	over	£300,000,	and	only	a	handful	of	BAME	workers	(by	my	estimate	less	than	10%)	are	earningover	£150,000.The	list	also	tells	us	something	interesting	about	social	class.	While	it	appears	to	signal	the	BBC	as	a	meritocraticinstitution	(most	of	the	top	10	earners	attended	state	schools)	the	wider	picture	is	one	of	a	corporation	where	thehighest	paid	–	whether	in	management	or	broadcast	–	tend	to	come	from	elite	and	privileged	backgrounds.	Thejournalist	Lewis	Goodall	has	estimated	that	45%	of	the	BBC’s	best	paid	stars	attended	a	private	school,	a	figurethat	seems	plausibly	in-keeping	with	some	of	the	more	recent	social	research	identifying	the	media	as	an	elite	ormiddle-class	profession.We	might	further	add	that	very	little	–	perhaps	nothing	–	has	yet	been	said	about	how	this	list	of	high-earnersmight	shed	light	on	other	dimensions	of	inequality	and	participation	–	such	as	those	rooted	in	age,	disability,religion	or	sexual	orientation,	for	example.LSE Business Review: BBC pay: We need equality all the way down – not just for the elite Page 1 of 3		Date originally posted: 2017-07-24Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2017/07/24/bbc-pay-we-need-equality-all-the-way-down-not-just-for-the-elite/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/I	raise	this	point	because	one	of	the	things	that	social	science	is	now	telling	us	about	the	cultural	and	mediaindustries	is	that	its	inequalities	tend	to	be	multipart	and	intersectional.	In	my	new	book,	Creative	Justice,	Iexplore	how	the	burdens	of	inequality	are	disproportionately	carried	by	those	with	multiple	social	disadvantages.Black	women,	for	example,	do	not	get	jobs	as	CEOs,	Directors	or	Senior	Executives	in	major	UK	cultural	ormedia	industries	–	with	the	absolute	rarest	of	exceptions.Only	a	handful	of	working-class	women	have	ever	edited	a	UK	national	daily	newspaper	–	and	only	one	(JanetStreet-Porter)	edited	a	‘quality’	broadsheet.	This	is	not	because	people	from	such	backgrounds	lack	ability	butbecause,	for	many,	social	inequalities	tend	to	be	cumulative	and	cross-compounding.	In	this	respect	the	BBC	listnot	only	reveals	a	lack	of	BAME	stars,	but	very	few	BAME	women,	with	even	fewer	of	these	coming	fromworking-class	backgrounds.	The	most	interesting	aspect	of	this	list,	then,	is	not	simply	that	women	are	paid	lessthan	men,	but	that	it	reveals	something	more	about	the	ways	in	which	opportunity	is	socially	distributed	in	themedia	–	and	how	this	is	shaped	by	different	combinations	of	advantage	and	disadvantage.But	while	we	might	question	the	pay	differentials	between	the	‘stars’	–	and	examine	their	social	distribution	–	wemight	also	want	to	acknowledge	a	different	kind	of	inequality	that	the	list	helps	to	illustrate.	To	return	to	the	openletter	sent	to	Tony	Hall,	its	signatories	identified	a	wider	problem	beyond	that	of	pay	differentials	between	the	veryhighest-earning	men	and	women:Beyond	the	list,	there	are	so	many	other	areas	including	production,	engineering	and	support	services	and	global,regional	and	local	media	where	a	pay	gap	has	languished	for	too	long.Pay	inequality,	it	seems,	goes	much	further	than	reporting	suggests.	The	BBC	has	long	been	accused	of	deflatingsalaries	for	ordinary	staff	on	its	standard	2-11	pay	scale,	and	for	treating	men	and	women	(and	ethnic	minorities)very	differently	in	the	competition	for	rewards	and	positions.	Last	week,	in	response	to	the	release	of	the	list,	oneunnamed	source	reported:‘..young	female	producers	are	kept	long	term	on	shabby	short-term	one	or	three-month	or	six-month	contracts	onrates	that	haven’t	moved	for	20	years	or	more’Similar	points	have	also	been	made	by	the	broadcaster’s	union	BECTU,	who	have	consistently	challengedwhat	they	perceive	to	be	the	excessive	salaries	of	BBC	managers,	and	highlighted	the	low	pay	and	precariousworking	conditions	endured	by	many	employed	and	freelance	BBC	workers.	While	it’s	right	to	challenge	payinequalities	and	inequities	wherever	they	occur,	we	should	note	that	life	is	materially	very	different	for	those	whoare	being	paid	at	the	bottom	of	the	organisation,	rather	than	the	top.	And	we	should	also	acknowledge	the	clearand	necessary	connection	between	these	two	poles.The	rewards	for	the	elite	come	at	the	expense	of	a	more	equalitarian	dispersal,	since	corporations	like	the	BBCcan	only	afford	to	offer	‘top	talent’	its	exceptional	financial	rewards	by	controlling	costs	in	other	areas	of	theproduction	process	–	including	the	work	undertaken	by	others	further	down	the	organizational	hierarchy.To	be	fair	to	the	BBC,	it	is	by	no	means	the	only	(or	even	worst)	culprit	here.	Commercial	broadcasters	andindependent	production	companies	actually	pay	higher	salaries	to	managers	and	‘talent’,	and	many	display	worseinequalities,	which	they	are	rarely	held	accountable	for.	Many	of	the	criticisms	of	the	BBC	appear	stronglymotivated	by	those	who	have	a	vested	commercial	(and	political)	interest	in	undermining	its	viability	and	status.Recent	reports	have	commended	the	BBC	for	actually	cutting	its	expenditure	on	top	talent,	as	well	as	forstriving	to	distribute	its	resources	in	a	more	even-handed	and	transparent	way.	Yet	for	the	BBC	it	remains	thecase	that	when	it	comes	to	pay,	a	greater	justice	and	fairness	can	only	emerge	through	taking	into	account	therelations	between	all	workers,	across	all	levels,	and	all	the	way	down.You	may	also	like:Broadcasting	gives	women	visibility	but	not	equality♣♣♣LSE Business Review: BBC pay: We need equality all the way down – not just for the elite Page 2 of 3		Date originally posted: 2017-07-24Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2017/07/24/bbc-pay-we-need-equality-all-the-way-down-not-just-for-the-elite/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/Notes:This	blog	post	draws	some	insights	from	the	author’s	book	Creative	Justice:	Cultural	Industries,	Work	andInequality,	Rowman	&	Littlefield,	2017.The	post	gives	the	views	of	its	authors,	not	the	position	of	LSE	Business	Review	or	the	London	School	ofEconomics.Featured	image	credit:	BBC’s	Emily	Maitlis	(Sound	man),	by	Matt	Gibson,	under	a	CC-BY-NC-2.0	licenceWhen	you	leave	a	comment,	you’re	agreeing	to	our	Comment	Policy.Mark	Banks	is	Professor	of	Culture	and	Communications	at	the	University	of	Leicester.	Heresearches	the	cultural	and	media	industries,	work	and	cultural	policy.	He	is	Director	of	theuniversity’s	CAMEo	Research	Institute	for	Cultural	and	Media	Economies.	His	latest	bookis	Creative	Justice.					LSE Business Review: BBC pay: We need equality all the way down – not just for the elite Page 3 of 3		Date originally posted: 2017-07-24Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2017/07/24/bbc-pay-we-need-equality-all-the-way-down-not-just-for-the-elite/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/

BBC pay: we need equality all the way down - not just for the elite

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