When under-fire MPs ask newsreaders to reveal their salaries, the TV folk usually keep diplomatically schtum – and Auntie usually rejects Freedom Of Information requests on the topic. But, whilst challenging Labour peer Lord Foulkes over parliamentarians‘ expenses on Tuesday morning, BBC News Channel’s Carrie Gracie volunteered: “My salary is £92,000 – every single call I make I make from my own phone – because I understand what public sector money is all about” (video link).
Fluent in Mandarin, Gracie did a bang-up job of anchoring the BBC’s Chinese Olympics coverage last year. But, with David Cameron saying he would freeze the BBC’s £142.50 licence fee, her frankness could reverberate farther than the BBC News studio – she may have just stumbled in to the debate over the BBC licence fee…