UK Edition
The BBC stands accused of lying and spreading smears about its most high-profile female journalists as the corporation was warned its handling of the gender pay crisis is approaching “a Greek tragedy”.
Carrie Gracie, who resigned as China editor in protest at unequal pay, accused the BBC’s most senior woman journalist of misleading her in salary negotiations and of wrongly dismissing her as a “part-time” worker.
The corporation has been “diminished and damaged” by its dishonesty over women’s pay, Gracie said, because “the BBC lives or dies by its reputation for telling the truth”.
Gracie said the atmosphere at the corporation was now “toxic”, and “it is going to get worse".
She compared their handling of her case to Chinese state intimidation and said: "They are stumbling towards a Greek tragedy where they make happen their own worst fears.”
Her accusations marked a day in which the BBC's gender pay row descended into a crisis the corporation has not seen since the Jimmy Savile scandal.
Lord Hall, the BBC's director-general, appeared in front of MPs after Gracie and was forced to deny that the corporation was run by an "old boys' network" as he admitted that more than 200 female staff members have been underpaid.
Lord Hall's job is now likely to fall under scrutiny but the BBC's chairman, Sir David Clementi, defended his performance, saying that the corporation was fortunate to have him.
Gracie's performance in front of MPs was watched by some of the BBC's most high-profile female stars including Kate Adie, Kate Silverton and Mariella Frostrup.
Appearing close to tears at times during more than two hours of testimony, Gracie said the BBC’s attempts to explain the gulf between male and female salaries was “trying to retrofit justifications for the indefensible”.
In her evidence she accused the BBC's head of news, Fran Unsworth, of misleading her over her salary in comparison to male counterparts.
Gracie said: “I would expect the most senior woman in BBC News to stand up for her senior women journalists.”
She also described her fury at seeing the former head of news, James Harding, appear on television to claim there was no equal pay problem at the BBC.
“I just thought, ‘No, that’s not what BBC journalists do. They tell the truth,” Gracie said.
The BBC’s gender pay crisis began in July, when the Government forced the corporation to publish the salaries of presenters paid £150,000 and above. It showed that men were paid more than women in similar roles.
Until that point, Gracie had no idea that she was paid up to 50 per cent less than Jon Sopel, the North American editor. She resigned last month, putting the issue back in the spotlight.
She told the committee that a former colleague had asked Unsworth why Gracie’s name did not appear on the list of high earners.
“He said that Fran’s answer was that I was part-time. That was very upsetting,” Gracie said. MPs said they had heard the same claim made from BBC management sources. In fact, Gracie worked around 200 days a year in China and the remainder in the UK, where her teenage children were at school.
Lord Hall said if the BBC had been briefing against Gracie it was something “I completely deplore”. Unsworth said she had never described Gracie as part-time and there had been a “misunderstanding”.
Gracie disclosed that the BBC last week offered her £100,000 in back pay after conceding they had “inadvertently” underpaid her for the last four years.
She was paid £130,000 as China editor, a salary agreed in 2014 by Unsworth, who assured her that the North America editor was receiving an equivalent sum.
That was the case at the time, but shortly afterwards the North America post was given to Sopel. He already earned £200,000-£249,999, and remained on that salary. But Gracie was kept in the dark about his earnings.
The BBC told Gracie during her grievance procedure that for the first three of her four years in the China role she was “in development” - something she described as “an insult to add to the original injury. It is unacceptable to talk to your senior women like that. I would have never agreed to China on those terms."
When she decided to resign, Gracie said she “went from hero to zero” in an instant. “I work in China so I’m used to attempts at intimidation. I said to my lawyer when she warned me that the grievance process could be difficult, ‘How hard can it be? I’m the China editor.’ I underestimated it.”
Lord Hall offered a qualified apology to Gracie, saying he was “sorry we’re in this position”.
But Unsworth said Sopel deserved to be paid more for covering North America because “since Donald Trump was elected it has become one of the busiest briefs”.