 chairman said that he will not reveal details of deals with its top employee){kind=link}
Following the report highlighting BBC stars’ salaries, the ITV (LON:ITV) chairman said that he will not reveal details of deals with its top employees but will work harder to reduce the gender pay gap before the broadcaster is forced to report figures next year.
“We take gender issues, employment and pay very seriously as a company,” said Bazalgette. “But we are a commercial broadcaster. The BBC is funded with public money. We would never discuss confidential contracts for anyone working at ITV.”
Good Morning presenter Piers Morgan has criticised the BBC for their salary figures, saying that at ITV women “dominate” the television.
“We are the BBC in reverse! We are a shining example of equality – the women dominate on ITV!” he wrote on Twitter.
“We look forward to seeing how ITV compares when all large employers have to report their gender pay gap next year.” said a source from the BBC.
ITV is not all that when it comes to equality, however. A recent report showed how only two of the channel’s eight board members are women.
“Next April as required we will publish gender pay gap numbers,” said Bazalgette. “That is something we monitor closely and we will be able to show a year-on-year improvement in those numbers. But in terms of specific contracts, confidential contracts, of talent behind and in front of the camera, that is not something we would ever reveal.”
“We are supporters and subscribers to Project Diamond … to work hard hard to monitor and improve diversity in front of the camera and behind the camera,” he added.
Project Diamond measures ethnic, gender and sexual orientation make up of the employees in the British television industry.
After the BBC salaries were revealed, over 40 of the BBC’s most high-profile women wrote to the BBC’s director general, calling on him to urgently correct the gender pay gap.