Stop behaving badly!
My simple solution to rooting out the male TV presenters with feet of clay…
BBC/Shine TV
- Caroline Frost
On 1 October last year, a high-quality, bold-concept marketing campaign was unveiled by BBC News, stressing its dedication to impartiality, its tireless workforce, its unique reach and global status. In a two-minute video taking us from the London newsroom to myriad international bureaux, the message was firm and clear: in this chaotic world of disinformation, artificial intelligence and partisan press, the BBC remains a beacon on the hill. When its voices speak, we can believe what they tell us. The tagline? “Trust is earned”.
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My reaction was one part admiration for all those hardworking journalists still dedicated to the noble pursuit of public-service broadcasting, one part sympathy for the corporation’s equally hardworking PR department, tasked with juggling all this good with quite a bit of bad, and, I’ll admit, a chuckle at the impeccably ironic timing of such a campaign.
Because while I know first-hand the admirable qualities, personal and professional, of many who work for the BBC, a recent chequered timeline would indicate not everyone who walks through its doors received that same marketing memo.
Phillip Schofield for his interview with Amol Rajan for the BBC. BBC
This week sees the return of the much-loved The Repair Shop, albeit with a Jay Blades-sized hole at the work bench. Other presenters also missing from the primetime schedule include Jermaine Jenas – tipped for the Match of the Day main presenter gig before he fell on his smartphone – and exiled MasterChef host Gregg Wallace.
Let’s not rake over the coals of Huw Edwards’s criminality, and instead spare a thought for the iPlayer curators who have to conduct a Stalinist purge every time one of these broadcasting behemoths reveals his feet of clay. Closer to home, the Radio Times picture archive has been equally slimmed down. History is shrinking before our eyes.
An excess of pay cheque and powder puff over-indulges ‘talent’
The BBC is by no means the only broadcaster buckling under bad behaviour. With the Phillip Schofield scandal and recent allegations directed at Gino D’Acampo, ITV has seen its own falls from grace. What do all these people have in common? Well, they’re men, but let’s not even bother to dwell on all the obvious aspects therein. More specifically, within the world of broadcasting, they are “talent”, enjoying the status, privilege and perks that come with this nonsensical term. BBC director-general Tim Davie – presumably inspired by the statue of George Orwell outside Broadcasting House – recently announced a ban on the word itself, long after many an errant horse had bolted.
And they’re paid too much – specifically, far more than the hardworking but anonymous journalist, producer or researcher sitting next to them. The only way to justify that difference in reward is a unique, magical ability to communicate and connect with audiences, a palpable warmth, authenticity, decency. They are paid for personality and character. All they have to do is behave – and they can’t even manage that.
Jermaine Jenas presented the One Show from 2020 until 2024. BBC/Jamie Simonds
Was such nobility part of these men’s makeup until they were over-indulged with an excess of pay cheque and powder puff? Or is wanting this kind of celebrity status
a sign it was never there to begin with?
If it’s the latter, TV chiefs only need to take a leaf out of the book of those tasked with selecting the Dalai Lama: consult oracles, read spiritual signs and then recruit someone who least wants or expects to become the world’s chief Buddhist – or, in TV land, the chief repairer, chief chef, chief host. Then, in case it’s the former, simply cut the money to match normal staff salaries until their flawless behaviour is beyond doubt.
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“A big salary is earned.” The marketing campaign will write itself.
Authors
Caroline Frost
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