Paxman BBC remark sparks gender row

12:27am Monday 25th August 2008

Jeremy Paxman has risked the wrath of his female colleagues by suggesting that it is men who are being discriminated against at the BBC.

The Newsnight presenter, 58, suggested that white, middle class men were overlooked in favour of women by his employer.

His controversial comments were played at a pre-recorded interview to the Edinburgh International Television Festival.

Paxman, 58, said: "Do I think it's a man's world in television? That is the most ridiculous question I have been asked all week.

"The worst thing you can be in this industry is a middle class white male. If any middle class white male I come across says he wants to enter television I say give up all hope. They've no chance."

He listed five female executives in the industry as examples.

Broadcaster Mariella Frostrup, who said she was once told by a male producer that her breastfeeding schedule was "inconvenient" for the BBC show she was working on, dismissed the political interviewer's comments.

She said: "He lists five women because he couldn't possibly name all the men in positions of power in TV because he would be there all bl**dy day.

"He talks about middle class white men being a beleaguered species on television. Well, excuse me, but Jonathan Ross, Jeremy on Newsnight. Look at the Today programme, Have I Got News For You, Newsnight. It seems to me that TV is a fantastic place for middle class white males. They are very much judged to be the people imbued with a sort of gravitas that women are still struggling to achieve.

"The day that they find a direct causal link between bleach and brain power I will admit you can link blonde women together. It's not just blondes, brunettes that present news... For God's sake we're not cattle."

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