BBC bites back at The Sun over ‘Beeb’s bungs’ attack on MP appearance fees
The BBC has been moved to respond to recent coverage in The Sun which accused the public service broadcaster of squandering license fee payer’s money on ‘greedy’ MPs in the form of payments made for fronting shows not related to their day job, such as Have I Got News For You and Great British Railway Journeys.
Labelling such payouts as the ‘Beeb’s bungs’ The Sun said it was a ‘scandal’ that the broadcaster was handing over money in this way but the BBC press office countered: " It makes a neat headline (it’s a story run by papers on a regular cycle) but there’s a few quick things we wanted to point out.”
They go on to note that payments are not made in regard to political programming such as The Andrew Marr Show when called upon to explain policy and, moreover, The Sun itself hands over significant sums to MPs on a regular basis to contribute articles.
The BBC added: “We’re glad the Sun enjoys holding the BBC to account and challenging us – it keeps us on our toes and makes sure the licence fee is well spent. We know that deep down Sun journalists like the BBC as well – that’s why they’re happy to be paid to contribute to some of our programmes as well.”
Whilst they were at it the BBC also kicked accusations that they’d ‘splashed out’ on a new manager by pointing out that they have slashed the number of managers and their pay by a third since 2009.