An intern who is preparing to sue Monocle over unpaid wages has revealed the “extreme” 18-page handbook she was given as a guide while working at the glossy magazine and radio station brand.

According to campaigner for fair pay and journalist Tanya de Grunwald, the “Monocle Made Simple – Intern Version” guide “drips with entitlement”.

The handbook, first published on De Grunwald’s Graduate Fog website, contains a “forensic level of detail” on how to sort post, answer the phone and make hot drinks for guests, she said.

It was shared by Amalia Illgner, a freelance writer who undertook a two-month internship at Monocle’s London office last summer.

Illgner says she was paid £30 a day, which works out as £3.53 an hour, well below minimum wage of £7.50 – although Monocle has insisted its internships comply with the terms of the national minimum wage.

When working the 5.30am-2.30pm radio shift, interns were paid an extra £15 per day, Illgner has said.

She is understood to be readying a lawsuit against the publisher for unpaid wages with help from Jolyon Maugham QC, following her first-person exposé in The Guardian last month.

The handbook begins: “Welcome to Monocle! We are excited for your two-month stay with us. This is a guide with everything you need to know for your internship (and then some).”

The handbook urges interns to dress in a way which looks “put together and professional in front of “important people” who are often “touring our offices”.

It goes on: “Monocle’s interns are given a lot of responsibility, and there will often be several demands on your time at once.

“Don’t panic! Ask which task is the most urgent and focus on that one first; be clear about deadlines – ask when something must be finished. Communicate to everyone involved what you are working on and when you will be available next.”

There is also a specific two-page guide to the 5.30am shift, for which interns are instructed to arrive 15 minutes before the producer and presenter of the morning radio show.

For the morning shift, interns are also instructed to “clean the studio and put out the papers… clear out yesterday’s papers and put the new stack on the stool, fill water jugs and take out any dirty cups from Studio 1 and 2; put out clean cups”.

The guide tells interns never to offer payment to radio guests “unless they are a journalist or they have requested payment”.

The handbook also features two pages on how to sort and frank post, and advises interns working in the mailroom to seek help from other interns.

“Within your first week of starting ask one of the more experienced interns to take you down and show you how to print labels, record the addresses in the despatch books and sort the post for sending (as all of this might sound a bit confusing),” it says.

The guide instructs interns to be the “front lines of hospitality” and how exactly they should serve drinks to guests, while it also features almost a page of guidance for booking taxis.

On greeting guests, interns are told to “offer to hang up their coat and ask if they would like water/tea/coffee”.

It adds: “Also be pro-active in asking staff if they would like a beverage or need help with anything. There are small wooden boards, disposable stirrers and sugar sachets to serve with the guest’s preferred beverage.”

De Grunwald described it as “one of the most extreme” handbooks she has seen.

She said: “The idea behind so-called ‘interns’ handbooks’ is to minimise the amount of time that paid members of staff need to spend explaining tasks and supervising unpaid or low-paid interns.

“Even creating these documents is unlikely to cost the employer anything. I’d put money on the fact that Monocle’s 18-page tome was created by an intern, as part of their placement at the magazine some years ago.”

She added: “Three things make this one of the most extreme examples I’ve seen. First, its length – 18 pages!

“Second, the forensic level of detail about how tasks should be carried out. And third, the document drips with entitlement.

“Monocle expects interns to follow the handbook to the letter, meekly carrying out the tasks without a real human to supervise them, no questions asked. That would be rude enough, but the fact they’re paying less than the minimum wage really takes the biscuit.”

Explaining why she wants to take legal action, Illgner said: “For two months, I compiled research notes for Monocle’s radio producers, transcribed interviews for Monocle’s reporters, sorted Monocle mail, covered for the Monocle front desk, booked taxis for Monocle radio staff, and invited on-air guests in to Monocle.

“I also wrote a number of articles, including a 1,500 word piece that appeared on the front page of Monocle’s summer newspaper. All while being paid less than half the minimum wage.

“Despite having invested £10,000 and a year of hard work in my post-graduate journalism training at Goldsmiths, I have never felt less valued than I did at Monocle.

“I know that suing them means it’s unlikely I will get any paid work from them. But it is the principle. If internships are to be fair and open to everyone, then proper pay is vital.”

Press Gazette understands that all Monocle employees have access to a similar handbook, although the guide we have seen is clearly marked as being for interns.

A Monocle spokesperson declined to comment for this article, but previously told Press Gazette: “We remain proud of our internship scheme which has provided a launchpad for many young people to move into fulfilling and rewarding careers in publishing and journalism. Naturally we are sorry that Amalia now feels it didn’t quite work out for her.

“Our scheme remains constantly under review to ensure that it is fair in offering both opportunity and reward to as many people as possible. The pay of the company’s current interns is compliant with all legal requirements, and with the terms of the national minimum wage.”

Union reps have warned that BBC newsrooms across the country could go on strike after “anger and frustration” at issues including pay and terms and conditions in staff contracts.

The National Union of Journalists said it had seen “brisk” recruitment to its ranks from BBC employees due to the strength of feeling over issues including the gender pay row, which it said has made women “very angry”.

The NUJ, Unite and BECTU unions have been negotiating with the BBC for more than a year over staff terms and conditions, including sick pay, minimum salary, London weighting and salary progression.

However the negotiations are taking longer than anticipated and NUJ officials have accused the BBC of not providing “meaningful information” to assist the unions taking part.

Pierre Vicary, chair of the Broadcasting Industrial Council, told the NUJ delegate meeting over the weekend that it was almost “crunch time” over terms and conditions.

Vicary, who was elected the NUJ’s new vice president on Saturday, told delegates: “National strikes could be on their way. No way will we accept the crock of shit the management is forcing down the throat of members.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “Working together with our joint unions (including the NUJ), we presented proposals to staff in June 2017.

“Since then, we and the joint unions have been taking feedback from employees/members and we have negotiated many changes to the original proposals.

“Some issues still remain which we continue to discuss and hope to reach agreement shortly.”

Seamus Dooley, NUJ assistant general secretary, told Press Gazette the NUJ delegate meeting featured a “passionate” debate over the BBC.

He said: “We have not moved on significantly in many areas [since terms and conditions negotiations began]. That puts the level of frustration of our representatives in context.

“We entered into negotiations in good faith and they are enormously slow. At this stage our reps are frustrated and they are concerned and I think there is a fear that because it has taken so long that management may attempt to enforce changes.”

Vicary also told the delegate meeting that the BBC, which is facing £80m in cuts across its news division alone, was dying a “death of a thousand cuts”.

Delegates agreed that the NUJ’s national executive council should campaign against cuts in staffing and training and the “constant salami-slicing” – reducing the BBC’s size in a series of small ways.

Dooley described Vicary’s threat of a national strike as a “warning shot” to the BBC.

“There is no timeframe but what we are saying is there is an urgency now on the part of the BBC. We can’t keep dancing round the mulberry bush – we need to get progress.

“It’s a major undertaking, the review of terms and conditions, and the scale of what’s being proposed was always going to be difficult and it was always going to take time but we will not be frustrated into submission by the BBC.

“If they want meaningful negotiations they have to provide more meaningful information and they have to enter into the process.”

A BBC source, who asked to remain anonymous, told Press Gazette there was “no immediate threat” of a strike.

However, the source emphasised the level of anger and frustration within journalists at the corporation, and said the BBC had “possibly underestimated the strength of feeling”.

“It’s reflecting that there is a lot of frustration at the lack of progress that’s being made on a lot of fronts, whether that’s terms and conditions, pay… and there’s a lot of heat over equal pay and presenters going onto personal service contracts,” they said.

BBC presenters and some other staff said they had been pressured by the corporation to set up personal service companies to help save it millions by not having to pay National Insurance contributions.

HM Revenue and Customs is currently investigating claims that more than 100 BBC presenters have not paid the proper amount of tax.

Meanwhile, since journalist Carrie Gracie accused the BBC of a “secretive and illegal” pay culture in an open resignation letter from her role as China editor in January, the BBC Women group has called for management to correct “all unequal pay decisions it has made for decades”.

An insider previously told Press Gazette the BBC could face “hundreds” of equal pay claims from staff, with a “huge number” from the news division.

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee is currently holding an inquiry into BBC pay, encompassing equal pay and the use of personal service companies.

The BBC source added: “There are a lot of issues going on at the moment and there is a lot of anger in the newsroom and in the buildings. There is a lot of frustration on all of those issues. Pierre was just reflecting what the mood is across the BBC, not just in London.”

Picture: Reuters/Paul Hackett

BBC staff will vote on a significantly revised proposal on pay and conditions after almost two years of negotiations between unions and management.

The new proposal includes a three-year deal on pay backdated from August last year and running until the end of July 2020.

A pay award of 2 per cent in 2017/18, 2 per cent in 2018/19, and 2.5 per cent (or the licence fee settlement if higher) in 2019/20 has been agreed after negotiations between the BBC and unions the NUJ, BECTU and Unite.

National Union of Journalists general secretary Michelle Stanistreet welcomed the new package, as the union said it contained “significant improvements”.

She said: “The greatest asset our public service broadcaster has is its staff – the team of journalists and programme makers that make up the NUJ’s membership at the BBC are passionate about their work and it was vital for the NUJ to ensure any new set of terms and conditions, and any new approach to pay, is fit for purpose.

“For the past 21 months the unions have worked hard to identify areas of change needed at the BBC, and to improve the wide-ranging proposal to revamp terms and conditions.

“This final strait of negotiations with the BBC made significant headway and successfully addressed a number of important issues that required progress and agreement. NUJ reps welcomed this, and it’ll now be for our members to consider and vote on.”

The BBC and the unions identified “complexities and inconsistencies” in the current pay structure and, after a “forensic examination” of existing roles and how they are paid compared to market rates, propose a new grading structure, BECTU said.

The union reported that the BBC had recognised some roles were being paid below the market rate and that it ideally wants its staff to be at the median of the market.

For the first two years of the deal, all staff who are low in their pay range will receive incremental increases of 1.5 per cent.

After two years, the BBC and the unions will start new negotiations on how a ringfenced pool of funding can be used to progress salaries.

The BBC has also committed to raising its minimum salary from £15,687 to £20,000, BECTU said.

The proposal also offers “significant” improvements to terms and conditions for staff covering London weighting, pay progression, parental leave, sick pay, contracts of employment and new approaches to weekend pay and night working.

Arbitration talks brokered by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service took place this week, when the final session rolled on for 22 hours straight.

The unions agreed to recommend the revised deal to members and a ballot on whether staff accept the proposal will open on 21 May and close on 8 June.

BECTU national secretary Sarah Ward said: “The BBC’s finances are exceptionally precarious because between now and 2020 it will be taking over the financing of the over 75’s free TV licences and this will lead to a loss of 20 per cent of the BBC licence fee income, which the unions do not support.

“This pay offer secures our members’ future pay award at a time when the BBC financing situation is very delicate.”

Head of BECTU Gerry Morrissey added: “This new deal, which is still subject to a ballot of the members, demonstrates how important it is that unions and management work collaboratively with employers.

“The BBC recognised that its staff terms and conditions needed updating and the unions were able to negotiate what we know about staff experiences from members.

“This deal is a comprehensive examination of the terms and conditions and ensures that the BBC is best placed to retain and develop the workforce to keep it competitive in an increasingly fragmented market, while ensuring staff have decent terms and conditions.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “We’re pleased the unions are recommending the proposals which are an essential part of modernising the BBC, ensuring fairness and equality across the organisation and benefitting staff and audiences through the services we provide. We await the outcome of the union ballots.”

Just two weeks ago NUJ reps at the BBC spoke of the “anger and frustration” at the broadcaster over the negotiations, which lasted longer than expected.

Pierre Vicary, chair of the Broadcasting Industrial Council, told the NUJ delegate meeting it was almost “crunch time” over the terms and conditions negotiations and warned that if the deal was not satisfactory “national strikes could be on their way”.

Picture: Reuters/Neil Hall 

The BBC has apologised to the Daily Mail and its editor Paul Dacre after a series of news bulletins wrongly stated the newspaper’s journalists were implicated in the phone-hacking scandal.

The 1am, 2am and 3am news bulletins aired yesterday on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service carried reports about Dacre’s announcement that he will step down as editor later this year which linked the newspaper to the phone-hacking scandal in 2011.

News Group Newspapers, publishers of the News of the World and the Sun, and Mirror Group Newspapers have paid out to victims of phone-hacking.

But there has never been any suggestion any Daily Mail reporters were involved in the scandal.

The BBC apologised in the three equivalent news bulletins at 1am, 2am and 3am this morning.

The apology, which came at the end of each five-minute bulletin, said: “Last night’s news bulletin included a report of Paul Dacre’s decision to step aside as editor of the Daily Mail, an influential British newspaper, after 26 years.

“It wrongly stated that in 2011 a number of Daily Mail journalists were implicated in a phone-hacking scandal. We accept that this is not true and apologise to Paul Dacre and the Daily Mail.”

On Wednesday Dacre announced he will step back from day-to-day editorial responsibilities of the Daily Mail to take on broader roles as chairman and editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers, which also publishes the Mail on Sunday and Metro newspapers and Mail Online.

Daily Mail owner Lord Rothermere described Dacre as the “greatest Fleet Street editor of his generation” in a message to staff.

Mail on Sunday editor Geordie Greig will take up the helm of the Daily Mail in the autumn.

In Dacre’s opening remarks to the Leveson Inquiry in 2011, he “unequivocally” condemned phone-hacking and payments to the police.

“Such practices are a disgrace and have shocked and shamed us all,” he said.

“They need to be purged from journalism and reforms instigated to prevent such criminal activities ever happening again.”

He added: “I’d also today like to persuade you that there are thousands of decent journalists in Britain who don’t hack phones, don’t bribe policemen and who work long anti-social hours for modest recompense – and if they’re in the regional press often for a pittance – because they passionately believe that their papers give voice to the voiceless and expose the misdeeds of the rich, the powerful and the pompous.”

Picture: Reuters/Toby Melville

Improvement in the number of expert women appearing on flagship TV and radio news programmes has stalled in the past year, according to new research.

Men still generally dominate flagship news but not as much as they did, as the aggregate ratio of female to male on-air experts, reporters and presenters has improved by 30 per cent since 2016.

The Women on Air research carried out by City University found that ITV News at Ten and BBC News at Ten in particular both remain male-dominated.

The study found that ITV News at Ten has eight times more male presenter-led programmes than female-led, which it attributed to the predominance of anchor Tom Bradby (pictured).

ITV News at Ten also fell down with progress for on-air female reporters and correspondents, as its ratio of 2.6 men to every woman has remained the same since the last study took place in 2015/16.

Despite still having a disproportionate number of male experts, ITV News has improved in that category by 31 per cent since 2015/16, going from a ratio of 3.6:1 to 2.51:1.

See the full results of the survey below.

Rachel Corp, acting editor of ITV News, told BBC Radio 4’s Media Show this week that Howell’s research had “made us all face up to it”.

She said: “It is still a problem. It’s something that since I came in I’ve put a renewed effort into it. It’s a real priority of mine – not because I’m a woman editor, but because I think our programmes should reflect the reality of the society that we’re broadcasting to, but it’s taking some work.”

Corp added: “It needs somebody at the top pushing every single day because journalists are busy, news breaks and it’s very easy to go to your contacts in your phone and just pick them up, and that has to change.”

Professor Lis Howell, director of broadcasting at City University who led the research, said a target ratio of 2:1 male to female experts was realistic and achievable because male expertise still dominates in society.

The research showed that although there was an overall improvement in expert ratios across the programmes surveyed, most of the change occurred in 2017 with little change so far in 2018.

BBC News at Ten fielded fewer female experts in 2017/18 than in 2016/17, although it has improved by 18 per cent since 2015/16.

Howell surveyed five weekday episodes from Channel 4 News, Sky News, ITV News at Ten, the Today programme, BBC News at Ten and Channel 5 News for one week in every month over a two-year period.

She said she was pleased “significant improvements” had been made but that more needs to be done.

“When we started five years ago there were at least four times as many male experts interviewed on these programmes as women,” Howell said.

“It’s brilliant to see such a big improvement in the number of women experts interviewed and this is down to the efforts made by the broadcasters through initiatives like the Expert Women training days at the BBC, familiarisation for women experts at ITN, and improved databases.

“However, ITV News at Ten and BBC News at Ten remain male dominated and, with the exception of Channel 5, no broadcaster can claim parity or near parity across the three categories we surveyed – experts, reporters and presenters.

“And the fact that not much has changed in the last year means that we have to keep the pressure up.”

Howell added that although a 2:1 ratio of male to female experts was acceptable, having women on-air journalists outnumbered by men was “unacceptable”.

BBC Radio 4 and Channel 5 News now have slightly more female than male reporters, which has led to an shift in the average ratio from 2:1 in 2015/16 to 1.5:1.

A BBC spokesperson said: “Our ratios are improving but we’ve said we need to go further and faster with a BBC target for a 50:50 split of expert voices by April next year. The same figures also show that the BBC News at Ten scores well on its presenter ratios.”

The broadcaster carries out its own gender monitoring of every programme and has said the balance of experts and correspondents continues to improve.

Last month its split was 57:43, while the BBC News at Six achieved a 50:50 balance.

Experts

Reporters/correspondents

Presenters

The BBC World Service has increased its audience by 10m to 279m, according to new figures.

The service underwent its biggest expansion since the 1940s last year, adding 12 new languages to its news service, from Korean to Pidgin, backed by a £289m funding boost from the Government.

Today’s Global Audience Measure figures show that more people listen directly to World Service English online than by TV or radio, at a total of 27m. Its podcasts also reach 1m people each week.

But shortwave radio audiences have continued to decline, “virtually disappearing” in Pakistan and “down substantially” in Nigeria, where the service is also provided in local languages, said the BBC.

The Global Audience Measure is a yearly update on how many people are consuming the BBC weekly for all services in all countries across all platforms (TV, radio, online and social media).

The figures show overall, online news website audiences have grown by 4m, with social media audiences up by 9m.

The BBC is reaching a record weekly audience of 376m people. The English-language news website BBC.com added two million weekly users this year.

The BBC’s total global news audience has risen by one million to 347m.

Jamie Angus, director of the BBC World Service Group, said: “…It is great to see international audiences continuing to turn to the BBC for independent and impartial news.

“The figures highlight not only the successes of our global news operation, but the challenges that lie ahead for us. We still need to grow the share of women engaging with our news services globally, and we need to ensure we have the right services to continue to attract young audiences.

“At a time when Britain is forging a new relationship with nations around the world, the BBC’s global news services are more important than ever.”

More than a quarter of the BBC World Service audience is aged between 15 and 24-years-old.

The top ten markets for the BBC’s international news services are Nigeria (41m), USA (33m), India (30m), Bangladesh (16m), Egypt (16m), Iran (13m), Afghanistan (12m), Tanzania (10m), Pakistan (9m) and Indonesia (8m).

Picture: Reuters/Neil Hall

Eddie Mair, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s PM, is to leave the corporation after more than 30 years to join commercial talk radio station LBC.

Mair joins LBC in September. His departure from the BBC follows his apparent refusal to take a pay cut, according to The Times.

His pay packet of up to £350,000 was revealed when the BBC was forced to publish the salaries of its top-earning on-air talent last year.

Mair could have doubled his salary with the move to LBC, according to The Times. The paper said he resisted pressure to have his pay reduced as the BBC looks to close its gender pay gap.

In January this year, six BBC journalists – including top-earners Jeremy Vine and John Humphrys  – agreed to take a pay cut. Last week, BBC China editor Carrie Gracie won an apology from the BBC after it admitted to underpaying her.

The corporation is again due to publish the salaries of on-air talent next month.

Mair first presented PM in 1993. He won plaudits for his discussions with The Media Show presenter Steve Hewlett’s battle with cancer before Hewlett’s death in February last year.

Said Mair: “It’s 31 years since I joined the BBC, 25 years since I first presented PM, and 20 since it became my main gig. I thought this was the appropriate moment to step out and give someone else a chance, before I’m so old my sentences make no lasagne.

“I’m going to miss the PM team, and Tony Hall’s after shave. I realise the BBC will close down without me and there will be a run on the pound but I can’t stay in an organisation that refused to let me host Songs of Praise. I bought a jacket and everything.

“I’m truly grateful to the BBC, however for being given more opportunities over the years than I deserved. My apologies to PM listeners for all the things I’ve said that I shouldn’t have, and all the things I should have said that I didn’t.

“Whoever comes next will be getting the best job in the BBC and I honestly wish them the very best.”

On his decision to join LBC, Mair said: “LBC has established itself as a ground-breaking broadcaster.

“Innovative, informed and fun with appointment-to-listen shows and a reputation for setting the agenda. Its growth has been driven by bosses and staff who are passionate about radio, which is why I am eager to get started.”

Fran Unsworth, director of BBC News, said Mair was one of the “outstanding broadcasters of his generation” and that his new employer was “very lucky to have him”.

She said: “Eddie has delivered outstanding journalism and created a real bond with the audience through his mixture of warmth, incisive questioning and knowing when to listen in order to get the very best out of his guests.”

Gwyneth Williams, controller of Radio 4, said: “Eddie is a consummate broadcaster. You want to be in his hands when news breaks and I remember too, with respect, but also personal sadness, his conversations with Steve Hewlett during Steve’s illness.

“I would like to thank him for his commitment over so many years to PM, Radio 4 and our audience.”

LBC managing editor James Rea said Mair would be a “fantastic addition” to its “formidable line-up” where his colleagues will include Nick Ferrari, James O’Brien, Iain Dale and Nigel Farage.

“I know Eddie’s new show will be exceptional when it launches in September,” said Rea. Full details of Mair’s show will be announced in the next few weeks.

Mair’s last PM broadcast will be on Friday 17 August. His successor has yet to be named.

Picture: LBC

ITV regional bulletins are seen as the best quality provider of local news, ahead of the BBC, according to survey data released by Ofcom.

Some 86 per cent of people who follow local news said they were “satisfied” with the quality of regional bulletins on ITV, 2 per cent more than said the same about BBC’s TV and radio bulletins across the UK.

However Ofcom said it was unable to say such a small difference was statistically significant, saying “the findings are broadly comparable”.

A spokesperson added that more people use BBC for local news than ITV (48 per cent compared to 32 per cent) so when comparing absolute numbers rather than proportion of viewers, the BBC would have a higher quality rating.

Local and regional newspapers received a 79 per cent satisfaction rate in print and 73 per cent online – ahead of social media on 72 per cent.

Ofcom, the UK broadcast regulator, commissioned a poll of more than 4,000 UK adults, defined as aged 16 and over, to discover their news consumption habits as part of its annual survey on the topic.

Researchers conducted 2,430 online interviews and 2,188 face-to-face interviews in November to December 2017 and March to April 2018.

The survey contained up to 237 questions. The results were then weighted and made to match population profiles for UK nations.

Press Gazette has carried out its own analysis of the raw data released by Ofcom.

Asked which local news source was their “most used”, more people (38 per cent) said TV than any other medium.

Print newspapers followed on 14 per cent, ahead of social media (8 per cent on mobile and 6 per cent on desktop/tablet).

Other internet sources, including news websites, follow on 11 per cent, with radio on 10 per cent. Just 7 per cent of those who follow news said they were not interested in stories about their local area.

But, when people were able to choose multiple platforms and were prompted with a longer list of possible sources, local and regional print newspapers came out ahead of social media with nearly one fifth (23 per cent) of people using them compared to 16 per cent using social media.

However a report commissioned ahead of the Government’s Cairncross Review into the sustainability of the local press has revealed that a quarter of all regional and local newspapers have closed in the past decade.

Overall the use of news websites and apps has risen in the past year as the proportion of people getting their news from social media has dropped, according to the Ofcom survey.

Among those who said they use the internet for news, the majority (61 per cent) said they use the websites or apps of broadcasters, like the BBC or Sky.

Almost half (49 per cent) now say they get news from newspapers’ websites or apps, while online-only news organisations, like Buzzfeed and Huffpost, are used by 16 per cent of people.

Although the numbers using social media for news have dropped from 42 per cent in 2016 to 37 per cent, more people now use search engines like Google to find stories (up from 36 per cent to 48 per cent).

However the methodology and questionnaire of the annual News Consumption Survey changed this year, meaning the figures are not directly comparable.

At the start of this year, Facebook changed its news feed algorithm to prioritise posts from friends and family over updates from publishers, which experts described as “deeply significant” for the news industry.

Among adults who use social media for news, 76 per cent now get it from Facebook followed by 32 per cent on Twitter, 22 per cent on Whatsapp and 21 per cent on Instagram.

Of those who said they get news stories through Facebook, just under a third (29 per cent) actively follow traditional newsbrands, while 17 per cent follow online-only titles like Buzzfeed.

The survey also found that 10 per cent of respondents who use social media for news also actively follow journalists or public figures on the platform.

TV remains the dominant source of news in the UK, being used by 79 per cent of adults, while the use of the internet for news is on 64 per cent.

Radio is used by 44 per cent of people for news and 40 per cent use printed newspapers.

The survey also broke down which platforms people use for different types of news, showing that TV remains by far the most popular source of breaking news – even ahead of social media.

Among adults who follow news, 45 per cent said TV was where they turned most often to find out about breaking news, ahead of social media (12 per cent on mobile and 8 per cent on desktop/tablet).

Some 10 per cent of those surveyed most often found out about breaking news from other internet sources on desktop/tablet, including newspaper websites and apps, and 8 per cent on mobile.

Fewer people, just 5 per cent on mobile and 5 per cent on desktop/tablet, visit social media first when they want in-depth analysis of the news, while 28 per cent said they were not interested in this type of content.

TV is still used most often (31 per cent) for in-depth analysis, followed by other internet sources (10 per cent on desktop/tablet and 4 per cent on mobile) and print newspapers (11 per cent).

Guido Fawkes chief reporter Ross Kempsell has joined Talkradio as the commercial radio station’s first political editor.

Kempsell will be on-air later this month. Talkradio is owned by Wireless Group, part of Rupert Murdoch’s News UK – owners of the Sun and Times newspaper titles.

Said Kempsell: “I will drive forward a significant expansion in the station’s political coverage. We plan to build a strong broadcast presence in Westminster.

“Our mission, as we report on the political issues of the day, is to serve our listeners, holding politicians to account without fear or favour.”

Kempsell will shape the station’s wider political coverage and react to events and breaking stories in his new role, according to a spokesperson.

Talkradio programme director Dennie Morris said: “Ross immediately impressed us with his knowledge and passion for UK politics and his natural flair for broadcasting.

“Already a regular contributor on-air he is the perfect fit for our no-nonsense approach at Talkradio.

“We’re looking forward to him breaking stories across our national stations and going head to head on Talkradio with the likes of Julia Hartley-Brewer at Breakfast and Eamonn Holmes at Drive”.

Prior to joining political blog Guido Fawkes, Ross worked for international news and picture agency Fameflynet and in a number of freelance roles on national and local press.

Kempsell’s move follows that of his Guido Fawkes colleague, news editor Alex Wickham, who was yesterday named as the new senior political correspondent at Buzzfeed UK.

News UK also publishes the Sun and Times newspaper titles.

Picture: Talkradio

The BBC has cut its median gender pay gap from 9.3 per cent to 7.6 per cent in the past year.

The corporation’s mean pay gap has also fallen, from 10.7 per cent in 2017 to 8.4 per cent.

The drop has come after “concerted action” at the BBC to close its gender pay gap by 2020, and maintain a gap of 3 per cent either way thereafter, following publication of the salaries of its top-earning on-air talent last year.

The BBC said 7.1 per cent of the median gap is now caused by having too few women in senior leadership roles and more women than men in the lowest paid sector of the workforce.

The remaining quarter of the reduction is due to BBC Studios and BBC Worldwide becoming a single commercial organisation, the corporation said.

Women now make up a bigger proportion of the BBC’s leadership than ever before – 43.3 per cent of leadership roles are held by women, up from 42.1 per cent last year.

By 2020, the BBC targets having half of its staff as women, including in leadership roles, and half of its on-screen, on-air and in lead roles across all genres from news to drama, as women as well.

Overall, the BBC currently has a 45.2 per cent female workforce.

BBC director-general Tony Hall said: “Closing the gender pay gap is a priority for the BBC. We must lead the way.

“Today’s figures show we are making good progress, but we are not there yet and that is why we will keep pressing to deliver change.”

The UK national average hourly median gender pay gap is 18.4 per cent, according to the Office for National Statistics. The national average mean gap is 17.4 per cent.

The BBC’s gender pay gap is significantly better than most other UK media companies, many of which have also said their figures are a result of more men occupying higher-paid roles than women.

The BBC launched a series of initiatives to tackle the gender pay gap last year including pay transparency for all levels of the workforce, introducing a simpler job and career path framework, and repositioning people within their pay ranges.

It has also been proactively going through salaries in every part of the corporation and plans to have finished adjusting pay with cuts for some and increases for others by the end of the summer.

In the BBC’s gender pay report 2018, released today, Hall said a programme for high potential women in news has led to significantly more women in senior positions there.

The BBC has a median bonus pay gap of 0 per cent and a mean gap of 2.5 per cent, favouring men, covering its voucher-based recognition scheme and long service awards.

In 2017, it had a median bonus pay gap of 0 per cent and a mean gap of 20.3 per cent.

Former BBC China editor Carrie Gracie received an apology from the BBC last week as the corporation admitted she was underpaid for her work.

Gracie, who earned £135,000 a year in the role, was told when she was offered the role that she would be paid in line with North America editor Jon Sopel and other BBC international editors.

She only discovered she was not on the same pay as other international editors at the BBC when the salaries of its on-air talent paid more than £150,000 were released under Government mandate in July last year.

Gracie resigned in January over the issue of equal pay and received support from a group of more than 130 female broadcasters and producers under the name BBC Women.

They called on the BBC to “urgently address pay inequality across the corporation” and said they knew of up to 200 women had made pay complaints.

Six top-earning male journalists, including Sopel, later agreed to take a pay cut to help the BBC move towards equal pay.

Also agreeing to a salary reduction of an undisclosed amount were Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine, News at Ten anchor Huw Edwards, Today presenters John Humphrys and Nick Robinson, and Radio Five Live presenter Nicky Campbell.

Today the BBC also published the recommendations from its review, led by BBC Scotland director Donalda MacKinnon, into its culture for women and their ability to progress.

After receiving more than 5,000 comments and ideas, three priority ideas were identified, including better support for flexible working requests and those returning from maternity or extended leave.

The BBC will look at its recruitment processes to create more opportunities for development and develop high-potential programmes for women to progress into leadership roles, and will increase training and support for managers.

Picture: Reuters/Neil Hall 

The BBC is creating three new roles – an editorial director, digital director and head of news output – as it declares maintaining trust through impartiality to be a clear priority in safeguarding the future of BBC News.

Head of news Fran Unsworth said in an email to staff on Wednesday that the BBC was “seen as the most trusted source of news in the UK”, but warned that “perceptions of impartiality are under pressure”.

A BBC-commissioned survey, carried out by IPSO Mori last year, found that the BBC was the most highly rated news source on trust, accuracy and impartiality among those polled.

Unsworth also said attracting younger audiences was the BBC’s “biggest challenge”, adding: “Unless we can halt this trend we may weaken the arguments for a universal licence fee.”

To meet these twin priorities, Unsworth said she would be changing the editorial make-up of top management team the News Group Board by creating the three new roles.

The editorial director role, which is currently being advertised, will include responsibilty for “shaping future editorial strategy and story focus” and “maintaining editorial links across the BBC”, she said.

Current mobile and online controller Fiona Campbell will “refocus her role” to become the BBC’s digital director, responsible for digital – including BBC News online – and younger audiences strategy, said Unsworth.

The new head of news output will head up a “multimedia daily news output and programmes team” replacing the separate daily news programmes, channels, and mobile and online teams, she added.

Unsworth said the BBC’s own News Awards, recognising the work of people across its news department, would relaunch in Spring next year.

She said: “I’d also like to see a real culture change at the BBC to make it a better place to work for everyone. This means creating more opportunities for you to move around, collaborate, innovate and connect with our audiences.”

The BBC still has to make cuts totalling £80m across its news department by 2021/22. On this, Unsworth said only that she would share more information with staff as soon as possible.

Last week the BBC has apologised to former China editor Carrie Gracie and admitted she was underpaid in her role, compared with other international editors who were men.

It also revealed on Wednesday that it had cut its gender pay gap by almost a fifth in the past year after “concerted action” began to reach parity by 2020.

Picture: Reuters/Neil Hall

BBC News at Ten anchor Huw Edwards is now the highest paid journalist at the BBC after a number of its top-earning men, including Edwards, agreed to salary cuts amid a row over equal pay at the corporation.

Edwards was paid up to £599,999 when the salaries of the BBC’s on-air talent paid more than £150,000 a year through the licence fee were first revealed last year following a Government edict to make them public.

In the latest salary figures released today, one year on, Edwards has seen his salary fall to a maximum of £539,999.

Scroll down for full list of salaries compared with year before

In January this year Press Gazette reported that six of the BBC’s highest-paid male journalists agreed to cut their salaries.

They were: Edwards, Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine, Today presenters John Humphrys and Nick Robinson, North America editor Jon Sopel and Radio Five Live presenter Nicky Campbell.

Vine, who was the BBC’s highest-paid journalist in 2016/17, has seen his salary fall from up to £749,999 down to a maximum of £449,999. This is the biggest pay cut among BBC journalists.

BBC Radio 4 Today programme presenter John Humphrys went from a salary of up to £649,999 down to a maximum of £409,999.

The new salary figures show the top ten best-paid journalists at the corporation are still all men, despite “concerted action” by the BBC to improve its gender pay gap.

The BBC said its median pay gap for last year was 7.6 per cent, down from 9.3 per cent the year before. The corporation’s mean gender pay gap has also fallen, from 10.7 per cent in 2017 to 8.4 per cent.

The BBC is aiming for gender pay parity by 2020.

In a joint statement shared on Twitter, the BBC Women group, representing more than 170 broadcasters and producers, said: “The list shows how far the BBC still has to go in valuing women and men equally for their work.

“A year on from the formation of our group, many women at all levels of the organisation are still involved in protracted and gruelling processes to address their pay claims.

“We urge management to resolve these as swiftly as possible and in full accordance with the law.

“From now on, we expect all management decisions on pay, promotion and recruitment to be made with equal pay as a given.”

The Today programme’s Mishal Husain is the top-paid woman journalist at the BBC on up to £229,999, slightly up from last year. She is followed by Fran Unsworth, director of news and current affairs, on up to £249,999.

Women to have joined the list this year include Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis on up to £229,999, Europe editor Katya Adler on £170,000 – £179,999, and Today’s Sarah Montague on £160,000-169,999.

Other new additions include media editor Amol Rajan, on £200,000 – £209,999 and former Today presenter James Naughtie on £170,000 – £179,999.

Not on the list this year, however, is Daily Politics presenter Andrew Neil. Neil was paid up to £249,999 last year. Neil stopped presenting BBC Sunday Politics in September 2017

Also not on the list, but who appeared last year, is Newsnight’s Kirsty Wark and BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty.

The BBC announced last week that its median gender pay gap has dropped from 9.3 per cent to 7.6 per cent in the past year after “concerted action” began to close the gap by 2020.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: “Since last year’s pay disclosures lifted the lid on pay inequity at the BBC, the NUJ has worked hard to get to grips with the scale of the problem, entering into negotiations to improve clearer salary structures that are consistently applied and transparent at the same time as representing members in equal pay complaints.

“Much progress has been made in recent months, but there remains much work to be done; not least on the outstanding equal pay cases for NUJ members we are representing at the BBC.

“Whilst a growing number have been resolved, and we’ve seen significant pay increases and back-pay for some members, many more are outstanding.

“The length of time cases are taking to resolve is a cause for concern and we continue to push for speedy and comprehensive settlements to these complaints.”

Complete list of BBC journalists earning more than £150,000

The editor of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme has said John Humphrys is “the person you want when you want to hold power to account”, describing her female presenters as “better on fashion”.

Sarah Sands, who became editor of the programme early last year, appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Feedback programme on Friday to discuss recent online criticism of Today with presenter Roger Bolton.

Humphrys, who has presented Today for 30 years and is currently the BBC’s fourth highest paid journalist on £400,000-£409,999, was described by some Feedback listeners as “rudely sarcastic” and “boorish”.

Sands said: “What he has particularly is a quality of holding power to account and in the turbulent times that we’re in, that couldn’t be more important.

“We have five presenters, they all have different strengths. I have said that on the whole, Mishal [Husain] and Martha [Kearney] might be slightly better on fashion, I will certainly give you that,” she added, laughing.

One listener whose views were aired on the Feedback programme said: “I’m afraid it’s John Humphrys that annoys me most.

“I have found that he talks over his more knowledgeable interviewees and becomes impolite, rudely sarcastic, vitriolic, and I found it very unpleasant to continue listening to him.”

Another listener said: “… I was not getting from his interviews, in comparison with his colleagues, what I wanted from a political or news broadcast first thing in the morning.”

A third told Feedback: “The boorish and ignorant manner John Humphrys chose to interview the Rwandan development board was embarrassing and made me feel ashamed.”

In response, Sands said: “I can produce equal evidence on this, so I have some messages here, one that says: ‘Wishing all the best to a most excellent, devoted and compassionate presenter, John Humphrys’.

“Another says: ‘It’s a delight to listen to, you’re my knowledge and information and the truth’.

“All of us have good days and bad days,” she added.

Hayley Barlow, head of communications at Channel 4 News, was among the women who tweeted about Sands’s comments.

Alongside a tweet from Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow about his colourful ties and socks, she said: “Puzzled by editor of Radio 4’s Today programme suggesting her female hosts are ‘better on fashion’ while John Humphrys is ‘person you want to hold power to account’.”

Food author and columnist Diana Henry said Sands’s comments were “quite gob-smacking”, tweeting: “To say that Mishal and Martha would be ‘rather better on fashion’. I’d be shit on fashion, and I’m a woman. What century is she living in?”

Bolton also raised the point that the Today programme lost 130,000 listeners last year.

Sands said: “What you’re seeing is a more polarised news landscape than I’ve ever known in 30 years in news, and an increasing intolerance for views that aren’t shared…

“The particular challenge for the Today programme is that it has to be for everyone and the trouble is that people are hearing views that they don’t agree with, because we’re having to represent all shades of opinion.”

She added: “The Today programme is absolutely the lightning rod for what’s going on in the country. It’s where all issues are being played out and so people are attacking it hard, because they’re angry and they’re polarised.”

“People are finding it very hard to tell the difference between opinion and fact,” she added.

Sands said that she was trying to feature more world news in the programme and “expand the horizons of news”.

She added that she was “future-proofing” the programme by creating a Today podcast aimed at younger listeners which would be hosted by different presenters.

However when Bolton asked twice whether she anticipated making any changes to Today’s team of five presenters in the near future, she replied both times that “they’re a first rate team”.

The BBC’s head of news has sent a message to all staff at the corporation asking them to “email an expression of interest” if they want to apply for the job of chief presenter of Radio 4’s PM.

The vacancy emerged after long-serving presenter Eddie Mair announced last week that he was moving to LBC talk radio. Mair’s last broadcast will be on 17 August after 25 years as presenter.

In an email, seen by Press Gazette, Fran Unsworth told staff the hour-long news and current affairs show was “extremely important to our audiences and we need to consider carefully who should take over as the presenter”.

Staff who would like to be considered for the role should email their expression of interest by 17 July, she said.

Unsworth, along with Radio 4 controller Gwyneth Williams and daily news programmes controller Gavin Allen, will decide who to appoint.

The open invitation to apply for the PM job comes as the BBC makes continued efforts to close its gender pay gap, aiming for pay parity by 2020.

Unsworth, who took over as the BBC’s head of news in January this year, has previously told staff: “I’d like to see a real culture change at the BBC to make it a better place to work for everyone.

“This means creating more opportunities for you to move around, collaborate, innovate and connect with our audiences.”

PM airs for an hour at 5pm weekdays and half-an-hour Saturdays on BBC Radio 4.

Picture: BBC

The BBC has issued a written defence of its Brexit coverage after columnist Nick Cohen accused the corporation of “journalistic cowardice” in its reporting of the EU Referendum and its aftermath.

Cohen said the BBC’s “celebrity presenters” had failed to ask the “hard questions” of the Leave campaign. “The BBC’s reporting of the scandals around the Brexit referendum is not biased or unbalanced: it barely exists,” Cohen wrote in the New York Review of Books.

In response, James Stephenson, news editor at BBC News, has written a letter to the publication, saying the BBC had “reported on every aspect of the [Brexit] story over the past two years.”

He added: “There can be few times in the BBC’s history when its journalism has mattered more. This is not an organisation frightened of journalism, but committed to it.”

Scroll down for full BBC response

Cohen quoted Today programme presenter Nick Robinson as having said there is no longer a need to “broadly balance” Leave and Remain claims, “because there are no longer two sides” after the country voted by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave the European Union in June 2016.

Said Cohen: “Real journalists should be able to see that everything is wrong with his statement. If Brexit were over, Britain would not be in a rolling crisis with no end in sight.

“As pertinently, journalists should never assume a subject has become off-limits, because that is what the enemies of free expression demand.”

Cohen also praised his Observer colleague Carole Cadwalladr who broke the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting story, exposing the use of Facebook users’ data in potentially influencing election outcomes, earlier this year.

As a result of her reporting, the UK-based CA is facing a £500,000 fine from the Information Commissioner’s Office and Vote Leave has today been accused of breaking election laws by exceeding spending limits and working jointly with a separate campaign group.

“She is everything BBC journalists are not,” said Cohen.

He said the BBC was given the opportunity to interview CA whistleblower Christopher Wylie “and have a documentary ready to go once the news was out”, but said the BBC’s flagship investigative programme “backed away” after claiming they didn’t have enough evidence to turn the story around in three weeks.

In response, Stephenson said Panorama had “asked for access to all the evidence, but that was not forthcoming”.

He added: “Limitations were placed on the BBC’s own investigation of the allegations and constraints on who we could approach. In short, we did not have the scope to make a programme which met our standards of robust independent investigation in the time available.”

But Cadwalladr and Cohen have both claimed BBC Panorama were given the same access to evidence as the Observer and New York Times had to prepare their reports. Press Gazette understands the BBC stands by its statement.

Cohen said: “There have been three huge stories the BBC has covered with only the most perfunctory reports: the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data leak, the Brexit campaign funding scandal, and the exposure of Russian interference in British politics.”

Cohen’s article, headlined: “How the BBC lost the plot on Brexit” and published on Thursday last week, was lauded by current and former Fleet Street editors who shared it on Twitter.

Ex Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger said: “Another piece – angry and excellent – questioning the BBC, ‘impartiality’ and Brexit.” FT editor Lionel Barber said: “Every self-respecting journalist should read this and take note.”

In response to Cohen’s claims, the BBC’s Stephenson said the writer had “ignored a number of inconvenient facts”.

He said: “Nick says our reporting of scandals surrounding the Brexit referendum’barely exists’ and our coverage is ‘perfunctory’. That will come as a surprise to our audience, as we have reported on every aspect of the story over the past two years.

“Take his main example, the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica whistleblower story. When it broke, we covered it on our major news bulletins for eleven days in a row. Our Business, Economics, Media and North America Editors and Technology Correspondent all reported on aspects of the story.

“We also interviewed the whistleblowers themselves. Shahmir Sanni’s interview with Radio 4’s The World This Weekend was the lead story on the day his revelations were published and Chris Wylie was interviewed on two of our flagship programmes, The Andrew Marr Show and Newsnight.

“The most inconvenient facts concern our award-winning investigative programme, Panorama – which, as Nick knows, does not shy away from hard-hitting journalism. Here his account is misleading.

“Carole Cadwalladr has been widely recognised for her tenacious journalism and we were keen to work with her. She had been working with another broadcaster, coming to Panorama only at a much later stage.

“For Panorama to make a programme, it needed to be confident of the underlying evidence behind the whistleblowers’ claims. Panorama asked for access to all the evidence, but that was not forthcoming.

“Limitations were placed on the BBC’s own investigation of the allegations and constraints on who we could approach. In short, we did not have the scope to make a programme which met our standards of robust independent investigation in the time available.

“Nick also claims the BBC is behaving as if the debate about Brexit is over, quoting presenter Nick Robinson to make his point.

“The article cited actually points out that the conclusion of the referendum campaign ended the legal obligation for balance between two rival campaigns, thus reducing the pressure on broadcasters for ‘false balance’.

“The BBC does indeed occupy a unique position in world journalism – as the most trusted international broadcaster. That is why hundreds of millions of people worldwide turn to BBC News each week.

“We do not expect our journalists to “say what they believe”, as Nick advocates. We ask them to report accurately, offer informed professional judgements and go wherever the evidence takes them.

“This means our audience will sometimes hear views they don’t agree with, read facts that don’t support their own views and see news stories which are outside their comfort zone.

“There can be few times in the BBC’s history when its journalism has mattered more. This is not an organisation frightened of journalism, but committed to it.”

Picture: Reuters/Toby Melville

UK media organisations have begun to reveal their gender pay gaps for 2018, one year on since the first legal requirement to publish the statistics.

Guardian and Observer publisher Guardian News and Media has seen its median gender pay gap – the difference between the middle salaries when put in order for men and women – fall by a third in the past year.

It has dropped from 12.1 per cent to 8.4 per cent, but still favours men.

When focusing only on the group’s editorial staff, the median pay gap falls to 6.4 per cent, down from 8.8 per cent last year.

Scroll down for full median and mean gender pay gap figures for 2018, which will be updated as and when the information becomes available

GNM’s figures were disclosed this week as part of a Government imperative for companies with 250 or more employees to publish annual figures comparing men and women’s average pay, starting with data for 2017.

Companies, many of whom began taking action in the past year to improve their gender pay gaps, are now beginning to reveal their second round of figures as of the snapshot date of 5 April 2018.

The BBC revealed earlier this month it had cut its median gender pay gap by almost a fifth in the past year, from 9.3 per cent to 7.6 per cent, following “concerted action” to close the gap fully by 2020.

The Financial Times has also reduced its pay gap, with the median falling slightly from 19.4 per cent last year to 18.4 per cent.

Magazine publisher DC Thomson’s median pay gap has stayed much the same year-on-year, going from 15.7 per cent in 2017 to 15.4 per cent in 2018.

Its mean gap, calculated by adding all salaries together then dividing by the number of salaried staff, remains at 22.9 per cent.

The UK national average hourly median gender pay gap is 18.4 per cent, according to the Office for National Statistics. The national average mean gap is 17.4 per cent.

Last year Press Gazette reported the mean as the main pay gap measure, but included the median figures as well. This year we are using the median as the main measure, but will look to include the mean gap where reported.

See below for the full media gender pay and bonus pay gap figures ranked from highest to lowest by the 2018 median figure, collated using data submitted on the Government portal and other available gender pay reports.

Positive figures favour men while negative figures favour women.

The bonus pay gap breakdown among news publishers, broadcasters and magazines from 2017 to 2018 (reported so far):

Picture: Pixabay

The BBC has appointed its first gender and identity reporter as part of its recent expansion of the World Service.

Megha Mohan, who is currently a senior journalist with BBC Stories, will join a specialist unit within BBC World Service in September and look in-depth at issues including LGBT+ experiences, faith and ethnicity.

The BBC announced its biggest expansion of the World Service since the 1940s in 2016, aimed at enhancing its reporting around the world and particularly at reaching more young people and women.

A BBC spokesperson said: “The specialist role will cover stories about gender and identity which could be around people’s faith, ethnicity, sexuality and LGBT+ experiences across the globe.

“We know that gender and identity issues are of great interest, particularly to our younger audiences around the world, and this role will be dedicated to reporting on them.

“The role will be part of a specialist unit within the BBC World Service making leading investigative, exploratory journalism that contextualises the themes and issues behind news stories and presents them in exciting ways for our global audience to interact with.”

Mohan’s work will appear across the BBC World Service’s languages services on TV, on radio and online.

Announcing her appointment on Twitter, Mohan said she was “thrilled” to take on the role and thanked the “brilliant women” journalists who provided her with support during the application process.

She has previously written stories which may come under the gender and identity brief, including about her personal experience of being unable to mourn her grandmother in a Hindu temple with the rest of her family because she was forbidden to do so while she was on her period.

Mohan is also a co-founder of The Second Source, a scheme set up by female journalists to match young women with more experienced mentors and help them in the early years of their media careers.

The BBC denied reports that the creation of the gender and identity reporter related in any way to its ongoing gender pay gap and equal pay issues.

The corporation’s 12 highest stars are all men, according to the BBC’s annual report released earlier this month.

It came soon after former BBC China editor Carrie Gracie secured an apology from the corporation in which it admitted she had been underpaid compared to other male international editors.

The BBC has reduced its median gender pay gap by almost a fifth in the past year to 7.6 per cent in the past year, well below the national average of 18.4 per cent, after concerted efforts to have gender pay parity by 2020.

A spokesperson added: “The appointment is not related to the BBC’s record on gender pay, which is better than almost all other broadcasters and many other organisations in the media industry.”

Picture: BBC

BBC economics editor Kamal Ahmed has joined the BBC News management team as editorial director. Daily news programmes controller Gavin Allen has also stepped up as head of news output.

The two new roles have been created by BBC director of news Fran Unsworth as she makes maintaining trust through impartiality a clear priority for safeguarding BBC News’ future.

Creation of the roles under a restructure of the BBC’s News Group Board was reported by Press Gazette earlier this month.

A former newspaper journalist, Ahmed (pictured) joined the BBC in 2014 as business editor, becoming economics editor two years later.

In his new role he will be responsible for shaping future editorial strategy, focusing on “storytelling and explanatory journalism” and match output to audience research.

Unsworth said: “Kamal will bring verve, ambition and fresh editorial insight to the role and I’m thrilled he’s joining my top team.”

Allen has led the BBC’s daily news programmes since 2014 and has previously held senior editorial roles including on the Today programme, The Politics Show and Question Time.

He will lead the BBC newsroom’s output across TV, digital, online and radio and  head up the newly merged multimedia daily news output and programmes team.

A BBC spokesperson said: “The role will ensure the BBC’s editorial decision making is joined up and the best journalism reaches all of our audiences on both linear and digital platforms.”

Unsworth added: “I’m delighted to have Gavin’s extensive experience across many BBC programmes and strong editorial judgement leading this department.”

Mobile and online controller Fiona Campbell will also move into the newly created role of digital director.

Pictures: BBC

BBC Radio 4’s Today programme has lost 800,000 listeners since last year, according to the latest RAJAR audience figures.

The BBC has attributed the almost 10 per cent drop to its listenership stabilising after a busy news period last spring, including a snap general election, the Grenfell Tower fire disaster and terror attacks in Manchester and London.

The Today programme, edited by Sarah Sands since early 2017, had 7m weekly listeners between 2 April and 24 June this year – down from a record 7.82m in the same quarter last year.

It had 7.22m listeners in the previous quarter, according to RAJAR figures shared by the BBC.

BBC Radio 4 had an overall weekly reach of 10.6m, down from 11.55m last year, and a share of 11.7 per cent, down from 12.3 per cent last year.

BBC 5 Live, the broadcaster’s other main current affairs station, also lost listeners. It went from 5.32m last year to 4.73m in 2018.

The station’s breakfast programme, hosted by Nicky Campbell – the BBC’s second highest earner according to the latest salary disclosures – was down 337,000 listeners, which the BBC also blamed on a quieter news agenda.

The BBC had a slightly lower share of the national radio market overall at 51.7 per cent, down from 51.9 per cent last quarter and 52.3 per cent last year, and a smaller weekly reach at 34.4m compared to 35.01m last quarter and 34.9m last year.

BBC local radio lost around 700,000 listeners in the past year, going from 8.63m in April to June last year to 7.87m listeners over the same period this year.

The BBC World Service had a weekly UK audience of 1.51m, up from last quarter (1.43m) but down from last year (1.59m).

The only BBC stations to see year-on-year listener growth were 6 Music, Asian Network, Radio 2 and Radio 1Xtra.

LBC said it now reaches 2.1m listeners each week, up 3 per cent year-on-year from 2.04m in the same period last year.

Nick Ferrari’s breakfast show reaches 1.1m listeners every week and James O’Brien, on air between 10am and 1pm, now reaches 943,000 listeners every week, up 4 per cent year-on-year, the station said.

News UK’s radio arm, Wireless Group – which broadcasts Talkadio and Talksport – now reaches 4.6m adults over the three-month period, who spend more than an hour a day listening on average.

The group shared RAJAR figures showing an 8 per cent growth in reach year-on-year.

Talksport grew its audience to 2.9m listeners, up 10 per cent on last year. Overall Saturday and Sunday audiences are up 22 per cent year-on-year.

Talkradio saw a 9 per cent increase in reach with 294,000 listeners tuning in for 1.3m hours – an increase of 28 per cent on last year.

At Wireless’ local stations, listeners now spend over 9.2m hours tuning in each week.

Scott Taunton, Wireless chief executive, said: “The opening ten days of World Cup action is included in the strong Talksport performance – a welcome addition given that it was a relatively quiet football period with the Premier League title decided well before the season ended.

“Across the board we’ve grown in hours and reach – no mean feat. We continue to improve the schedules and our proposition, while working closely with our colleagues from across the News UK portfolio.”

The Scottish Sun, which launched three music radio stations in January, celebrated today as Scottish Sun Hits, Scottish Sun 80s and Scottish Sun Greatest Hits reached a combined 13,000 weekly listeners.

Richard Bogie, managing director of News Scotland and News Ireland, said: “We are delighted with these figures, which show significant early success from a standing start at the New Year.

“We are focused on continuing to build the audience, and the fact that listeners are tuning on for six hours a week on average indicates that we have a strong base from which to keep growing…

“Scottish Sun radio is a growing part of our strategy, and the increasing reach of our brands across platforms is creating excellent new opportunities for commercial partners.”

Picture: BBC

Today editor Sarah Sands has dismissed claims the Radio 4 news and current affairs programme is “in crisis” after new audience figures showed it had lost 800,000 listeners in a year.

Today has 7m listeners, according to the latest RAJAR audience figures covering April to June this year, published yesterday, down from a record 7.82m on the same period last year – a fall of 10.5 per cent.

The BBC put the drop down to a stabilising listenership following a frenetic news agenda last Spring that included a snap general election, the Grenfell Tower fire disaster and terror attacks in Manchester and London.

Writing in the Telegraph today, Sands said claims the programme is biased in its coverage of Brexit and that since she became editor in January 2017 she had introduced “soft features” over hard news, were “pressed into service of an easy story: ‘The Today programme is in crisis.’ We’re not.”

She added: “News programmes fluctuate according to the news.

“A devoted, hard-working, modestly sized team of reporters, producers and presenters works flat out, on horrible rotas, to try to set up the day for some seven million listeners.”

The main roster of Today programme presenters includes some of the BBC’s highest-paid journalists, with John Humphrys (salary of up to £409,999), Nick Robinson (£259,999) , Mishal Husain (£229,999) and Martha Kearney (£209,999) and Justin Webb (£169,999).

Humphreys is frequently the subject of accusations that he is pro-Brexit in his approach to interviews with leading political and industry figures.

Former Evening Standard editor Sands said in the Telegraph: “As the political debate intensifies, more people now seem to regard as intolerable any discussion of views they do not hold…

“We invite on a wide variety of figures to interrogate their views, yet a social media-savvy section of the public believe that representation is endorsement.”

She added: “Accusations are repeated until they form a ‘narrative’.

“When things were quiet after that first, frantic summer, we looked at some non-political subjects in more depth: athletics, Silicon Valley, the multi-billion-pound business of British fashion.

“A former editor of the programme wrote that this signalled the end of serious news. Ever since, I have been the new woman editor who introduced soft features.”

She added: “News is a challenge for all of us, not least the newspaper industry, which wrestles with an alarming decline in sales.

“The issues could not be more important. We have seen in the political events of the last two years what happens when media fail to report all strands of opinion.

“The task for all of us is to try to keep people engaged.”

Picture: BBC