Celebrity Gossip

Recession has taken its toll on every sector and the electronic media is no exception. There has been massive and relentless slashing of jobs, leaving many unemployed and still many more under paid. BBC has also decided to cut down the remuneration of its topmost stars. Since they are indispensable it is impossible to consider doing away with them to budget and balance the account books, so the decision as been taken to curtail the emoluments offered to them.

The news was cracked in a high end meeting with BBC’s top stars being invitees. Director-general, Mark Thomson took the initiative to declare the decision of cutting down the pay of its top stars, like Bruce Forsyth, Sir Terry Wogan and Jeremy Clarkson, up to a massive forty per cent. Looks like some stars might be scaling back on their purchase of luxury items like sports cars, or an advanced Samsung UE46B8000 LED TV. The move has been taken to cut down the pay of not only the high earning ones but also for those in the medium salary range. Only thing is in case of the top notch it is as high as forty per cent and for those at the medium level it is only up to twenty five per cent.

In fact, all the contracts made with employees are being re-considered and re-evaluated by BBC.

The announcement of the decision triggered heavy backlashing from some leading presenters who describe the move as an attempt at “scape-goating” them. Some analysts have also criticised the move as being “overly tough”.

The decision is somewhat surprising as BBC has always been accused of over-paying its stars and even at the time of recession it was said that BBC unlike others was constantly increasing its pay.

Tags: bbc, bruce forsyth, entertainment, forty percent, jeremy clarkson, mark thomson, pay cuts, recession, talent, terry wogan