Selina Scott and the BBC - 16/07/2010

The BBC described itself in its annual report published this week as "Britain's favourite channel...at the heart of our cultural life" and "part of the national conversation". Following Selina Scott's report which exhaustively catalogues the alleged blatant sexism and ageism which appears to be enshrined in the very culture at the BBC, the "national conversation" may contain a considerable amount of sharp comment.

Ms. Scott won an out of court settlement against Channel 5, acceptance of which has sealed her lips on her own case, but has not prevented her venting her rage and frustration on the malign situation she sees continuing at the heart of this esteemed and very British organisation. Her own situation aside Ms. Scott contends that sex and age discrimination is meted out against women in a sly and at times almost unspoken and Machiavellian way (her words). Rarely are the targets of this treatment told outright that they are not wanted but in an insidious campaign is mounted to undermine and diminish their confidence.

Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, the autonomous body set up to represent the licence payer, is the recipient of this particular hot potato. It can be taken as read that Ms. Scott will have meticulously compiled a damning dossier and with 12 out of court settlements in the past and a string of similar claims to look forward to the BBC will ignore it at its peril.

All businesses must be on their metal since the beefing up of the discrimination laws. There has been a surprising amount of successful age discrimination cases, despite the rather slow start of this type of case. Also it is not acceptable, for example, to simply say that a 60 year old builder is no longer required in the work force merely because the work is hard physical work and the employer no longer wants him; a detailed explanation and justification as to why a particular employee is unsuitable is now called for.

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