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BBC Pay More For Their News People

 
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mark occomore



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 9955
Location: UK

PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 7:24 pm    Post subject: BBC Pay More For Their News People Reply with quote

For Steve Saul the decision to leave commercial radio was pretty straightforward. The 29-year-old journalist from Preston had worked in the newsroom of Rock FM for three years, before deciding to apply to the BBC. "Emap were making cutbacks to the news team, presenters were reading out the bulletins and daily news programmes were been scrapped. The opportunity to practise radio journalism wasn't there anymore, so I moved on."

That there is a steady migration of journalists and producers from commercial radio to the BBC may not come as a surprise to some. What does raise an eyebrow, even amongst those working in the industry, is the marked lack of parity in salaries. Saul earned £13,000 a year when he left Rock FM in 2001 to join a local BBC station in Yorkshire, where his salary jumped to £22,000. With the agreement of his manager, Saul continued to freelance at Rock FM until 2005, working eight hours in the newsroom every Sunday, for just £50 a shift.

The industry has changed considerably in the three years since. News hubs, where bulletins are collated centrally and distributed across a network of stations, are more prevalent. Station sound production has been rationalised in many groups. Journalists have taken on additional responsibilities, to update websites and provide additional bulletins for new digital services.

Despite this, there has been little growth in salaries according to staff spoken to for this article. The starting salary for a journalist, producer or programme assistant in local radio is likely to be between £13,000 and £15,000, and a significant pay rise in the first two years is the exception rather than the rule. A news editor, who may also have responsibility for several smaller stations as part of a news hub, will usually earn upwards of £20,000.

A BBC local station will pay broadcast assistants a similar wage to their commercial counterparts of £14,526, or grade 3H on the BBC's pay scale. However the starting salary for a journalist or producer is often 5/7D, which, outside London, equates to £19,731. The BBC also offers an unpredictability allowance for staff asked to work irregular hours and at short notice. The allowance is the subject of union discussions, though the likely outcome will be an additional £2,222 a year. In total, a junior BBC journalist is likely to earn just under £22,000 a year, nearly 40% more than the equivalent role in commercial radio. News editors in the BBC also enjoy significantly higher pay than their commercial counterparts, with a starting salary of £29,201 plus the unpredictability allowance.

According to one commercial news editor, who wished to remain anonymous, these sums are not the only reason for the steady exodus of staff to the BBC. "I offered a position to a graduate and fought tooth and nail to pay him £14,000. He had only been with our team for six months before the local BBC station offered him a salary of £23,000. His goal was to work for BBC Five Live so it was the obvious next step, and I had no chance of making him a better offer, financially or otherwise. For all its recent troubles, the BBC is still seen as a more stable environment where you can develop a five- or ten-year career path. There's no path beyond the newsroom in commercial radio; you can count the senior management with a background in journalism on one hand."

Jonathan Richards is one of this rare breed. Beginning as a journalist at Heart 106.2 in 1995, Richards climbed the ranks of Chrysalis (now Global Radio) to his current position as programme director of LBC 97.3 and LBC News 1152. He argues that a long-term career in commercial radio is available to journalists and producers with the right temperament. "How far you progress in commercial radio really depends on the individual, because the opportunities are certainly there."

Richards claims that salaries in London for talented journalists and producers can match, and in some cases better, those available at the BBC, but agrees that salaries offered by many regional stations could hardly be considered attractive. "Some groups haven't done enough to keep hold of staff, but it's a no-brainer if the BBC is going to offer more money. There are still large regional newsrooms that should be competing with the BBC to retain the best people, but working in commercial radio shouldn't be solely about the money."

It is a view backed by RadioCentre, the body that represents commercial radio. Chief executive Andrew Harrison is adamant the industry is holding its own as far as competing for staff is concerned. "We don't see commercial radio as being a stepping stone to the BBC. Our experience is that commercial radio companies already offer rewarding and attractive career paths."

Luring graduates into commercial radio doesn't seem to be the concern, however. Many editors and programme managers say there is far more demand for jobs than there are positions available. What troubles most managers is the inability to retain staff, after investing time and money in training and development.

Callum May is a broadcast journalist for BBC News in London. After two years at Emap's Metro Radio in Newcastle, he joined BBC Radio Cumbria for an £8,000 rise. "I was having a great time with Emap, but I was definitely thinking about my career when I moved to the BBC, more so than the increase in salary. I think commercial radio treats journalists with a very short-term attitude. The presence of the unions in the BBC has worked wonders in helping staff achieve comfortable salaries."

While commercial staff rarely benefit from the influence of trade unions, a saviour may be on the horizon in the unlikely guise of the BBC Trust. It has undertaken a benchmarking exercise to identify any significant differences in salaries offered by the BBC and commercial radio, which the commercial groups have cooperated with fully, according to RadioCentre. The results will be released by the Trust's independent consultants later this year, at which point commercial radio may be forced to reconsider the financial value of its staff.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/19/radio.bbc

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It is very true commercial radio will have to pay more for their staff, but most of the journalists will network their bulletins? Also a lot of commercial radio stations use Sky News Radio now.
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