BBC'S 'UTTER CONTEMPT' FOR ANY VIEWER OVER 55; Newsnight pundit's attack.Byline: MARK JEFFERIES NEWSNIGHT'S Michael Crick has accused the BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. of having "utter contempt" for older viewers. Crick Crick , Francis Henry Compton 1916-2004. British biologist who with James D. Watson proposed a spiral model, the double helix, for the molecular structure of DNA. He shared a 1962 Nobel Prize for advances in the study of genetics. , 51, claimed programme chiefs were obsessed with youth and insisted older women at the Beeb had a harder time than male colleagues. Writing in BBC staff magazine Ariel, he said: "It's a barmy policy which shows utter contempt for many of our viewers. All the commercial channels have to focus on young people as they are the ones susceptible to advertising. The BBC should have no such worries." His attack follows claims of ageism ageism Geriatrics A bias or belief that may be held by a health care provider that depression, forgetfulness, and other disorders are a normal part of aging and that older individuals will not benefit from treatment of mental disorders. Cf elderly. over the axing of 66-year-old Arlene Phillips from the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel and the departure of Beeb legends Anna Ford, 65, Moira Stuart, 59, and Kate Adie, 63. Crick, political editor of the flagship BBC2 current affairs programme, added: "The average Newsnight viewer is 55. "How many Newsnight staff are older than 55? Jeremy Paxman and one or two others." The BBC said: "These views are his own and the Ariel article shows the majority of respondents disagreed with him." CAPTION(S): BLAST Newsnight political chief Crick |
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