The BBC’s highest-paid journalist, Jeremy Vine, has criticised the coporation for not acting to “right the wrongs” in pay discrepancies before it published salary details of its top earners last month.
Radio Two presenter Vine said he had been a “bit embarrassed” after he was revealed to earn between £700,000 and £749,999 a year paid for by the licence fee, the Sunday Times has reported.
The salary includes his work as a DJ, his role presenting BBC Two quiz show Eggheads, Crimewatch, Points of View, Panorama and as the graphics supremo on election night coverage.
“How did it [the BBC] not spot the peril in the numbers it would have to publish and right the wrongs in the story that would explode is beyond me,” Vine said.
“The organisation seems to navigate by crashing into things. It does not seem to have rear mirrors to see what is coming up from behind.”
The BBC disclosed the salaries of its talent earning more than £150,000 following Government pressure.
The figures highlighted a pay gap between men and women that the corporation has pledged to bridge by 2020.
Behind Vine as the best-paid BBC journalists were BBC Radio Four’s John Humphrys, on between £600,000 to £649,999, and BBC News at Ten anchor Huw Edwards, on between £550,000 and £599,999.
Only those salaries paid-for by the licence fee were revealed, with wages from independent production companies used by the BBC not included.
Picture: Lauren Hurley/PA Wire
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