The BBC has been accused of ‘appalling’ treatment of news anchors after a string of cuts at the channel.
Earlier this year, the BBC News in the UK merged with its international news channel resulting in around 50 job losses at the broadcaster.
Five news anchors – Martine Croxall, Annita McVeigh, Geeta Guru-Murthy, Kasia Madera and Karin Giannone – have reportedly not been seen on the news channel since March.
Back in April Martine, Annita, Geeta, Kasia and Karin put on a united front as they shared a rare selfie at the pub together.
Captioning the snap, Martine wrote: “Rarely seen in the same room together but it’s magic when it happens.”
It has now been claimed the axed employees are being paid but not working while the BBC sorts out the structure of its slimmed down news organisation.
According to Deadline, there is currently no clear resolution to the staffing issue which has apparently led to colleagues becoming increasingly riled about the BBC’s treatment of the women.
One BBC journalist, who does not work for the news channel, told the publication it was an ‘appalling’ situation.
“I think there is a huge amount of sympathy [for the presenters]. I don’t think it’s rocket science to say they have been treated badly,” another newsroom source added.
It has been noted that all the presenters are women over the age of 45 with over 100 years of experience working at the BBC between them. It is not known how many male employees are affected.
As the publicly-owned channel is said to be paying the anchors full salaries and drafting in freelancers to plug gaps, questions are also being raised about how much money is being wasted.
The BBC has faced lawsuits over equal pay and ageism in the past and in 2011 was found to have unfairly sacked female Countryfile host Miriam O’Reilly for being too old.
And in 2020, Newswatch presenter Samira Ahmed left the corporation facing a huge bill after winning an equal pay case.
She argued she was due around £700,000 in back pay because of the difference between her £440 an episode rate and the £3,000 paid to Jeremy Vine for hosting the similar Points of View programme.
An employment tribunal unanimously found the BBC had failed to provide evidence the pay gap was for any other reasons than gender discrimination, though they continued to dispute this.
One ex-BBC presenter said the current predicament of the five female news anchors suggested the BBC ‘hadn’t learned any lessons’, Deadline reported.
A BBC spokesperson told The Mirror: “We value all of our staff but we do not comment on individual HR matters.”
Under the BBC’s consultation process the channel must seek alternative work for those at risk of losing their jobs. Only then will redundancies take place.
The five women were apparently unsuccessful in landing one of the five UK-based presenter roles on the newly merged channel.
Matthew Amroliwala, Christian Fraser, Yalda Hakim, Lucy Hockings and Maryam Moshiri lead the new line-up.
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