John Humphries needs to go

I had exactly the same response from the BBC - which really did not address the issues I raised. I see that the story has now been dropped and there has been no comeback for Humphreys. Bloody typical.

The BBC have missed the point

They haven't, they've chosen to ignore the point. That's why in my view they've picked up an extra black mark. Dishonest is never a good look. Especially for a public service broadcaster.

I had the same response. Have we all?

The BBC have missed the point, I don't care if he was campaigning or not, that wasn't what I complained about.

I care that he spoke about a colleague in such offensive terms.

How cowardly and dishonest. A little bit of my decades' long support of the BBC has died. Next time there's talk of reform I'll be thinking "on balance, perhaps I might be interested in these ideas".

Response:

"Thank you for contacting us about the off-air conversation between Jon Sopel and John Humphrys. The BBC has been clear that this was an ill-advised conversation and has stated that it is committed to getting its pay structures right. It is conducting a comprehensive analysis of presenter pay which is expected to be published at the end of the month.

John Humphrys is bound by the same rules on impartiality as all other BBC presenters. Staff are entitled to their own opinions but if they choose to campaign on a topic publicly, then judgements are made as to whether they can go on to interview people on that subject. In this case, John was clearly not ‘campaigning’ on the topic.

We are grateful that you have taken the time to contact us. Please be assured that your complaint has been included on our audience feedback report that is seen by BBC senior management."

Eddie Mair is brilliant though

Glad it's not just me who dislikes Melvyn Bragg... I love the concept of In Our Time but I can't stand him, especially when the guests are female, he just interrupts them and reprimands them etc. It has me fuming!

Also there are loads of lower paid staff st the bbc who could be developed to take on the star roles at a more appropriate level of compensation. There is no magic to decent journalism.

Agree with upthread comments about how racist comments would not be tolerated. I have been in lots of situations where if you replaced the word women with black people the speaker would have been fired. Just one example in a previous jobs one of the trainers said there were no women crime writers. When I challenged him reeling off pd James Agatha Christie etc he just said that was not the crime writers he meant ie classic male redefining.
I do not in any way wish to imply that racism is not a problem just that sexism and misogyny can be more insidious.

I hope this is the start of a national women's strike for equal pay.
Abloodygain.
Barbara Castle would be appalled at us for doing anything less.

Yes indeed Butteredparsnips Jeremy Bowen is a legend!

And how the heck is Jon Sopel paid more than Jeremy Bowen? I could actually support JB earning more on account of his knowledge of the Middle East, not to mention danger money, but JS not so much.

The complaint form could be better/quicker IMO but it still only took 5 mins.

I seem to remember that Claire Balding was shocked by the remuneration offered for her to stand in on Woman's hour and encouraged JG etc to challenge it - long before the pay row went public in the summer.

It appears that sports programmes have larger budgets for presenters than programmes aimed at Women. This is wrong, even before comparing M v F presenters.

And I'll make my earlier point again. If JH had said she's actually suggesting black people should be paid the same as white people I don't think he'd get away with the banter between old colleagues line.

Gracie did suggest pay cuts:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/12/john-humphrys-equal-pay-row-nasty-person-leaked-private-conversation/

Also it's implied that production staff leaked that recording because they had been treated so badly by an entitled patrician.

Personally, not perscally.

However just because these women have done well, doesn't mean they should accept being treated badly compared to their male colleagues because other women have it worse.

I’d find it easier to get behind trailblazers who were asking for the sex inequality to be addressed by paying the men less, and raising the pay of the lowest earners (men and women) with the proceeds. I’m not hearing that clearly (or at all).

I’m not 100% convinced Gracey was taking a principled stand, so much as she was perscally insulted by the offer.

Again, sorry to sound cynical, it’s just that so much changes in society, yet life never gets that much better for the poor.

I've complained too. I wrote this on the other thread:

This discussion spurred me on to make a complaint to the BBC. I decided to criticise Humphrys' self-indulgent and often useless interviewing style and then also referred to his sneering at equal salaries for women as a black mark that damages the BBC.

To be honest, I was pleased this had come up because I've been meaning to complain for years about what a vastly expensive waste of space Humphrys is but never got round to it because I was sure my complaint would have been ignored. Maybe not this time.

I also mentioned that they should be ashamed of the partial reporting of this, involving silencing women, and that they need to reflect on how much they're pissing off their audience/the people who actually fund all of this.

They’re raising their voices where there’s a clear benefit to themselves, and not a huge risk of being cast into penury
I agree to an extent. However just because these women have done well, doesn't mean they should accept being treated badly compared to their male colleagues because other women have it worse.
Also there is a good argument that they can use their power to put in place structures to make things better for women at the bottom.
Carrie Gracey resigned because the BBC answer was to throw more money at her, not put in place measures to ensure women were paid equally throughout the corporation.
Michal Hussein reportedly was part of a group of women saying they would use their power to make it unacceptable for men to sexually harass their colleagues - hence George Rileys suspension.
We need to be behind these women. They are trailblazing for all of us.

I was going to say that if you are building barricades, I'll come and help you.

I am closer to your position than you might think. Self-interest is at play on my part because a) I am enraged and b) I think he is a genuinely terrible interviewer. If you watch all the women in the news reports and read all the newspaper reports this morning, you might also get the rage. Also the BBC is treated with reverence and it may be progress to knock that one down. For a start.

Agreed, Bluelady, he’s made the classic error of losing any self-awareness and becoming a parody of himself.

The answer to questions about obscene pay is always some blah about attracting the brightest and the best, market forces and so on.

I do feel passive, as it happens, Modestine, because I don’t believe there is any appetite in this country to address inequality; not from those who benefit hugely from it, not from the middle classes who are grateful not to be at the bottom of the heap, and, tragically, not even from those at the bottom of the heap who have somehow been convinced that their position in life is purely the outcome of their own failings.

Derailing, sorry, I’ll stop now.

I've complained about him, he needs to go sooner rather than later. He used to be.brilliant, he makes me shout sr the radio now.

Hipster, perhaps you might submit a complaint just on the £600k point.

It's absolutely valid to have a bigger/deeper priority, of course it is.

Fair enough hipster!

I don't believe anyone should be paid more than the Prime Minister.