Live TV shock as a female journalist discovers Sky News paid a man and not her

It seems like British TV cannot go a day without controversy. After ITV, the BBC and GB News, Sky News is the newest channel under scrutiny. However, while the other channels had issues with their presenters this year, Sky News is in the spotlight for a problem that goes beyond them: the gender pay gap.

The incident regarding Sky News took place on Wednesday 27 September during a segment in which two contributors were asked to comment on Laurence Fox’ remarks about political journalist Ava Evans. Because of the nature of Fox’ statements, the contributors were asked to comment on the misogyny.

What happened during the segment can only be described as ironic…

Sky News pays a man but not a woman

In the segment, journalist Moya Lothian McLean debates Connor Tomlinson, a conservative GB News contributor. As expected, the two butt heads concerning Laurence Fox’ words.

To carry her point across Lothian McLean comments on the bigger picture of the media and says:

It’s so tiring to me as a woman to come on here and have to listen to you …

However, we will never know what she intended the rest of her sentence to be as Tomlinson interrupts her and says:

I’m sorry you are so exhausted to be paid to go on air.

And things unravelled when Moya Lothian McLean answered:

I’m not being paid for this interview

The segment carries on for a bit and then Lothian McLean realises something, Connor Tomlinson was being paid.

A point that proved itself

After the fact, Moya Lothian McLean took to X and to TikTok to explain what had happened in the segment.

On TikTok she explains:

That is the moment when I realise that the man invited onto Sky News to say that misogyny didn’t exist was getting paid for the interview when I wasn’t.

Unfortunately for Sky News, the story doesn’t end there. It gets worse. According to Lothian McLean, when she was offered the chance to appear on Sky News, the channel said that they would pay her £75 which is the ‘standard for an interview like that.’ However, after the segment in which she realises she wasn’t paid at all, Sky apologised and inflated the fee to £200.

In her TikTok Lothian McLean wonders:

Why?

The answer is just sad:

Because it turned out Connor (Tomlinson) had bagged a £200 fee for that ten minute chat.

It doesn’t take long for Lothian McLean to point out the irony of the situation.

Just think about that for a minute. Man gets paid £200 to deny that structural misogyny exists.Woman gets paid nothing. Meanwhile, the Laurence Fox GB News clip that sparked this all, was Fox denying the gender pay gap exists.

She isn’t the only one commenting on the irony of it all. One comment on TikTok says

I… just… can’t… I can’t even. It is tragic, poetioc, ironic… all at once.

While others on X:

Jesus the irony

Ah the irony, as that 1960s attitude persists that women’s wages are just ‘pin money’ to spend on Bingo while men have to keep their families with theirs. 🤦‍♂️

the irony of the fact Fox talked about the fantasy of gender pay gap as well as other nonsense resulting in you having to debate a man about misogyny for free when he was getting paid 24hrs later

The gender pay gap is still very real

After Laurence Fox’ GB News rant on Tuesday 26 September, the gender pay gap as well as misogyny were put back into the spotlight… even though they never really left.

However, last week, on British TV, several people were allowed to argue that both the gender pay gap and misogyny don’t exist.

Because the pay gap is what interests us here after the Sky News debacle, let’s have a look at studies that prove its existence. In April 2023, The Guardian reported that an analysis they conducted showed ‘median gender pay gap is stubbornly wide at 9.4%, the same level as five years ago’.

The publication also revealed that ‘four out of five’ employers still paid their male employees more than their female employees.

If we look at British TV specifically, in 2017 the BBC had to reconsider their male presenters’ salaries after it was made apparent that there was a massive pay gap between male and female presenters. In 2018, the backlash received by the BBC led to having male presenters see their wage get cut instead of raising the women’s wages.

Read more:

⋙ Dan Wootton suspended after Laurence Fox exposes him and GB News in shocking new tweets

⋙ Russell Brand drags Dan Wootton, Huw Edwards and Phillip Schofield back under the spotlight

⋙ Huw Edwards and Phillip Schofield’s scandals trigger demand for change as TV bosses are under fire

Sources:

The Guardian: Women still paid less than men at four out of five employers in Great Britain

BBC News: Timeline: How the BBC gender pay story has unfolded