Murdoch's campaign against the BBC continues in today's shoddy reporting
The Sun has revealed the cost to taxpayers of car allowance for 327 senior managers at the BBC.
The paper reports today that ‘the broadcaster spent almost £1.7million on managers’ driving perks over the last financial year’, which they say amounts to £32,000 a week.
What the story leaves out, however, is that spending on this ‘perk’ of a company car for managers has actually decreased since the previous year.
The BBC spent £1,678,207 in the financial year to March 31, as against £2,026,680 the year before – a drop of £348,473.
The Sun also neglects to mention that the car scheme was dropped three years ago (2012) so that no staff hired since then have had a company car.
As a spokesman for the BBC told the Yorkshire Post:
“Car allowances were stopped three years ago for all new managers. This is reflected in the fact the cost and number of those eligible to receive it has fallen by over a third.”
What the Sun does include, though, is a comment from Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, who has campaigned against the BBC licence fee.
We can expect more of this shady reporting about the BBC ahead of charter renewal, as the Sun’s proprietor Rupert Murdoch lobbies to cripple the state broadcaster. (It’s even rumoured that another BSkyB bid is in the offing…)
Keep an eye on MediaWatch for the latest.
Adam Barnett is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow MediaWatch on Twitter
Read more:
Daily Mail accuses BBC of left-wing bias…because the Guardian is more expensive
The Sun wants to scrap the Human Rights Act…after using it to defend its reporters
21 Responses to “The Sun slams BBC for bosses’ car allowance…which has dropped by over a third”
Selohesra
Its interesting that most on the Left refuse to acknowledge the blatant left wing bias of the BBC – and yet when threatened you pull out all the stops to defend it. The funding model is unjustified in the 21st century as its near monopoly on broadcast news.
Cole
‘Left wing bias’? This is another daft but sinister right wing myth. Right wingers claim any news that isn’t rightist propaganda is left wing. They just don’t get the idea of objective journalism, and think the BBC should broadcast Conservative propaganda – or be flogged off to Murdoch. In reality, the Beeb takes too much of its news content from the Tory press – and employs Tories like Nick Robinson, to say nothing of Jeremy Clarkson.
swat
Murdoch is a disgrace. Tell us how much he spends on champagne and soft soaping his clients in order to get lucrative deals.
The BBC need to do a bit of investigative journalisn and uncover all his sordid secrets, and publish them.
blarg1987
Please tell us your definition of the middle ground so we can make an informed judgement whether it is left or right wing.
Gavin Curnow
What left wing bias? News is run by former News International staffer