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”
RES
When I hear about “left-wing bias” at the BBC, I would like to read a study that adequately demonstrates the case. I am aware back in the 80s somewhere this was found to be the case, but what happened 30 years is not necessarily the case now.
Right-wing commentators opine that it’s biased, but back up their claims with nothing but anecdotes or nebulous appeals to “everyone knows it is”. Polls suggest the public believe the BBC is left-biased, but is this because the BBC is left-biased, or because the overwhelmingly right wing press says so often enough that it is believed? Surely people do studies on BBC content. What are the findings of these analyses?
As for the BBC having near monopoly on broadcast news, I cannot fathom how this can be credibly argued given that any British resident with a TV can access national news such as Sky, ITV, C4 and international media such as CNN, Russia Today and Al-Jazeera.
Cole
Really? Jeremy Clarkson would have been fired years ago if he’d gone round making offensive lefty comments instead of right wing ones. The Tory press would gone have nuts.
Cole
Hadn’t you noticed that LFF set up Media Watch some months ago, specifically to call out distortions and lies in the poisonous right wing press? No one else seemed to be doing it.
blarg1987
Notice in your reply areas have been cornered by the left, one can also say areas have been cornered by the right such as finance and defence for decades.
Since you are asking me personally I have always had concern about a handful of individuals controlling the media.
But if you are playing this game, why did you not have concerns since the BBC was first formed? I guess the obvuous answer would be because you were not born then, and that is partially my answer also.
blarg1987
How many right wing comedians can you name and how many comedians have a right wing views as a percentage of all comedians?
Comedians are generally left wing, but that’s where the comic genius comes from.