BBC reveals meaningless salary total

The under-fire BBC has finally taken steps to pacify its critics by revealing for the first time that it spends £229m on salaries for 'talent' – presenters and other contributors – and that just under a quarter of that - £54m – goes on the salaries of those earning £150,000 or more.

This smaller group is understood to include the corporation's star presenters, including Jonathan Ross, Graham Norton, Jeremy Paxman and Fiona Bruce.

However, the announcement seems unlikely to pacify those politicians and media commentators infuriated by – or envious of – the highest paid stars. This is partly because the biggest culprit in their view, Jonathan Ross, has already announced he's quitting, and partly because the BBC still refuses to reveal what individuals are paid. Indeed, it won't even say how many people are paid £150,000 or more – so it is impossible to work out even an average income for its top flight personnel.

Releasing the salary totals this morning, the BBC continued to argue that individual fees are commercially sensitive information that it will not divulge.

However, the corporation made it clear that the public outcry – and complaints within the BBC – at Jonathan Ross's £5m-plus-a-year deal had forced it to rethink its attitude to salaries for top talent and staff. As a result, "many performers have taken a pay cut, top executives' pay has been published and frozen, and bonuses have been withdrawn".

Now the fear is that other talented personalities could follow Ross out of the door. Though quite where they would go, given the financial difficulties at ITV and Channel 4 and the state of the economy in general, is unclear.

In the meantime, the BBC's director-general, Mark Thompson, continues to take the flak. On the eve of this morning's release of salary totals, he came under intense pressure by the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to justify the BBC's continued refusal to disclose individual star fees.
 
Conservative MP Douglas Carswell compared the BBC to the group of MPs who tried to avoid having their expenses made public by claiming parliamentary privilege, telling Thompson: "Some of the justifications you give for not [publishing salaries] remind me of the arguments put forward by the duck house gang in this place about why there shouldn't be disclosures in the name of transparency."
 
He added: "My constituents are forced to pay for you and the BBC, so why won't you tell them which presenters are being paid what?"

The BBC also revealed today details of the expenses of its 107 most senior executives, and any gifts they received. Thompson recorded that he and his son went to the British Grand Prix as guests of Formula One and that he was also given a digital camera by Panasonic when he visited Korea. Wisely, he donated it to Children in Need. ·