Carrie Gracie leaves the BBC’s reputation in shreds over equal pay | John Crace

Former China editor had gripping story to tell MPs about how her pay fell £100,000 behind male colleagues

It was all about pay equality. But this was one gig that Carrie Gracie was prepared to do pro bono. The former BBC China editor has broken many big stories in her 30 years at the Beeb, but the two and a half hours in which she took centre stage before the culture select committee may yet prove to be the most influential performance of her career. In turn both forensic and passionate, Gracie singlehandedly very publicly exposed the gender pay gap at the BBC. By the end, the broadcaster’s reputation was in tatters.

The committee chairman, Damian Collins, started by asking Gracie to talk him through how she came to be China editor in 2014. It wasn’t a straightforward decision, she said. The offer came at a difficult time in her children’s schooling and she only accepted when James Harding, then the head of news, went down on bended knee and begged her to take the job. He was desperate. Not just to promote senior women in general but to promote her in particular. She wasn’t just the best qualified person for the job. She was the only qualified person for the job.

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from The Guardian http://ift.tt/2ntwTqy