Scott accuses BBC of excluding older women

THE BBC has been accused of “excluding” women aged over 50, by Selina Scott, who returned to the Corporation this morning to host a 25th anniversary edition of the BBC TV Breakfast programme.

Scott, 56, who began her broadcasting career at Grampian TV, was – along with Frank Bough and Nick Ross – one of the presenting team when BBC Breakfast Time was launched in 1983.

She told the Daily Telegraph that it was unacceptable that older presenters were being dropped to make way for younger women who lacked journalistic experience.

“How many women are there on mainstream current-affairs programmes who are over 50?”, she asked.

“Anna Ford has retired, Moira Stuart has been bumped off, yet you look around and see lots of men.” She claimed that the BBC and other news operations