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Been receiving messages almost all day about this, from current and former staff. Will highlight a couple of (public) ones, with some added thoughts. https://twitter.com/DaveLeeFT/status/1314224757512916992
Joe -- a friend, and now once again colleague at the FT -- was one of many cases of reporters meeting the high bar for the BBC's world beating young trainee scheme, only to find the BBC made it incredibly difficult to stay on. https://twitter.com/JoeMillerJr/status/1314226130673700864
It's baffling how much money is spent training young reporters only to let them go to rivals, or just drift away entirely. Joe hustled and made it work, but he won't mind me saying that it was never a stable outlook.
I don't know Theo, but I checked out his work today. Young, black, talented -- no stable contract for more than three years. https://twitter.com/tchikomba1712/status/1314329238993068033
Another person of colour, who asked to remain anonymous, via DM: "4 years on and I am living the hell described in your tweet re BBC contracts. No contract, no security, no pay rise. And every time that damn BBC rich list comes out I have to bite my tongue."
One issue is the "attachment" culture, a system originally set up for people to join special projects etc, but now used to paper over the lack of real opportunities with permanent status.
Imagine the fear of asking for a payrise when your contract is up, knowing that it's logistically much more straightforward to just be let go. And contract renewals are done so haphazardly -- I've known foreign staff unaware of whether they'd be renewed, with *days* left.
This isn't "bitter ex employee" stuff, and I hope it doesn't come across that way. But Davie's comments re:Oxbridge is the new BBC DG equivalent of "more bobbies on the beat". You have these people working for you already, Tim, just start respecting and looking after them.
