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"Screwed" is how one of my colleagues referred to her experience with the BBC. Asked to set something up for The One Show, she willingly agreed, assuming she would be appropriately compensated for her efforts. In the event, after a day and a half running around, she was - begrudgingly - given a fee of ?50. That works out at about ?4 an hour.

Of course, she has a regular salary, but that's not the point: it was a day and a half of not doing something else. There are no academic brownie points for having one's work on The One Show and the individual concerned may not even be credited.

A miserable fee sends a clear message: academics are not valued.

Name and address withheld