BBC ‘investigating hiring of five news presenters’ after huge channel relaunch branded a ‘sham’
THE BBC is reportedly investigating the hiring of five senior presenters after the recruitment process was branded a “sham”.
Back in February, the BBC announced the five presenters who would be fronting a revamped BBC News after it merged its UK and International teams.
The spring launch saw Lucy Hockings, Christian Fraser, Matthew Amroliwala, Yalda Hakim and Maryam Moshiri announced as the main presenters.
However, it meant a number of well-known faces lost their presenting roles.
These included Jane Hill, Geeta Guru-Murthy, Martine Croxall, Ben Brown and Annita McVeigh.
Their exits come after Joanna Gosling, David Eades and Tim Willcox took voluntary redundancy and broadcast their final bulletins, sparking an ageism row.
Now, The Times is reporting that the presenters who got the jobs were allegedly told they were the frontrunners, before the formal process of recruiting the positions had begun.
Daryl Maitland, Human resources chief at the corporation’s production wing, BBC Studios, began an inquiry on June 8.
He is investigating claims BBC bosses had already made their minds up as early as autumn 2022, despite interviews not taking place until January this year.
The Times spoke to a presenter who went through the recruitment process, and they branded it a “sham”.
They said bosses “were behind a fig-leaf selection process that was predetermined months before anyone did a job interview”.
Meanwhile another told the publication the interview and selection process was “rigged” while a third said it was “common knowledge” in the newsroom who would be getting the five top jobs.
However, other journalists did tell The Times the jobs were handed out “fair and square”.
A BBC spokeswoman told MailOnline: “We don’t comment on HR issues.”
The Sun Online has contacted the BBC for further comment.