BBC confirms pay cut for male stars after it changes story five times

The BBC has confirmed some male stars have agreed to have their salaries cut. Photo / 123RF.

The BBC has confirmed Huw Edwards, John Humphrys, Jeremy Vine, Nick Robinson, Nicky Campbell and Jon Sopel have agreed to reduce their salaries, after a morning of farce in which the BBC website reported some of their names and then retracted them.

The online story initially declared that "four of the BBC's leading male news presenters" had agreed to reduce their salaries, naming all except Campbell and Robinson.

The claim was repeated on Radio 5 Live by Amol Rajan, the BBC's media editor.

But within hours their names and pictures were removed from the story and replaced with Nicky Campbell, whose name had been reported in the Telegraph and was later confirmed on air by Campbell himself.

The website later changed the story at least twice more, adding the names back in with the caveat that they had been made public by Rajan.

It is understood the four presenters had no idea their names would be published, and some were unhappy they were singled out by the BBC.

The original story was also factually incorrect, as the website had failed to note Vine is not a BBC News presenter.

Questions were raised in the 9am BBC News editorial meeting chaired by director of news Fran Unsworth, according to BuzzFeed News.

The BBC website then had to check with the BBC press office whether the BBC could confirm the names of the BBC presenters who had taken cuts, and it was decided that the story must be credited to the BBC News media editor rather than the BBC itself.

A source said: "This hasn't been handled very well."

At lunchtime, the BBC press office put out a statement that read:"We are very grateful to Huw Edwards, Nicky Campbell, John Humphrys, Jon Sopel, Nick Robinson and Jeremy Vine, who have agreed that their pay will now be reduced.

"These are great journalists and presenters, who have a real connection with the audience. We are proud to have them working at the BBC.

"The final details of some of these changes are still being discussed, and there are further conversations that the BBC will have with others in due course."

Humphrys has agreed to cut his salary for the Today programme by NZ$290,000-$385,000 (£150,000-£200,000).

Vine has already taken a cut, saying the decision "wasn't a problem" as the BBC needs to tackle gender pay inequality.

Campbell agreed to a cut in order to bring his pay close to that of his Radio 5 Live breakfast co-presenter Rachel Burden.

He said pay negotiations had been "all very civilised and collegiate".