On Wednesday, public media outlet BBC released a salary report on high-paying actors and presenters in service, sparking a uk-wide debate about gender, race and the use of taxpayers to pay taxes.
The list shows that 96 BBC radio and television celebrities earn more than £150,000 a year, a figure that even exceeds the annual salary of the British prime minister. The highest-paid broadcaster is radio host Chris Evans, who earns £2.2 million a year.
BBC's salary report was done at the request of the UK government, and this information was previously private. Since BBC is backed by taxes paid directly by taxpayers, these data are also sensitive.
Evans, who hosts a morning radio programme, is paid between £2.2 million and £2.25 million; football host Gary Reinkel is paid around £1.75 million to £1.8 million; and talk show host Graham Norton is paid between £850,000 and £900,000.
Multiple actors who starred in the soap opera East Side appeared on the list, and Peter Capaldi, the star of the sci-fi TV series Doctor Who, earned more than £200,000 a year.
This data reflects gender disparities in the BBC high-income group. Two-thirds of high-earners are men, and the highest-paid female employee, Claudia Winkman (host of Dancing Wonders), earns less than a quarter of Evans' annual salary. Male news anchor Hua Edwards earns more than £550,000 a year, while female anchor Fiona Bruce, whose job is similar in nature, earns £200,000 less than him.
Meanwhile, most of these high-earners are white, and none of the minorities on the list earn more than £300,000 a year.
BBC President Tony Hall said the list showed "the need for greater attention to gender and diversity", but he also explained the issue of high salaries. "If we want to give the public what they want, we have to pay the good presenters and actors," he said.
The list does not include salaries that BBC employees receive from outside production companies, which may also explain why the names of several celebrities, including nature show host David Attenborough and Matt LeBron, host of "Britain's Crazy Car Show", do not appear on the list.
Conservative MP John Whitingdale, who pushed out the pay claim during his tenure as culture minister, said taxpayers have the right to know who can get a high salary during their tenure at the BBC and "have the right to judge whether these people deserve such a high salary". But others say the disclosure of this information could lead to a drop in BBC's public support and a potential increase in employee salaries – as employees who are not on the list will ask for a raise. At the same time, there have been criticisms that the move has nothing to do with transparency, with University of Westminster Communications Professor Stephen Barnett arguing that this is intentional by stakeholders who want to weaken the BBC.
(Translator: Wang Huinan)
[Original title: BBC Publishes High-Paying Report on Incumbents Exposing Unfair Treatment of Women and Ethnic Minorities]