MOL London - If you’re looking for your first break as a weather presenter on national TV but have no relevant qualifications or experience you may be in luck.
The BBC is on the hunt for a new face to present daily weather bulletins - but the only requirement is you must be disabled. An official advert posted on the corporation’s vacancies website said the BBC does not currently have any disabled weather presenters and is ‘actively seeking to improve on-screen diversity’. It says: ‘Do you want to share your passion for the weather by presenting weather bulletins? Do you have a disability? ‘The BBC does not currently have any weather presenters who are disabled and we are actively seeking to improve on screen diversity.
‘You don’t need to be an expert or have a qualification in meteorology.’ Staff are said to be ‘furious’ at the positive discrimination and some said they were ‘shocked’ when they saw the advert. The ‘politically correct job vacancy’ has been blasted with some saying the ‘box-ticking exercise’ sounds like a story line from the BBC’s own spoof comedy W1A.
In a recent episode of the show, bosses hired Muslim Sadiq Iqbal as a weather presenter because they wanted a bearded man to keep the broadcasting watchdog happy. A source told The Sun: ‘This feels like political correctness gone mad on the part of the BBC. ‘Surely it’s much more important for the weather to be presented by an expert, rather than someone with a disability?
‘Everyone supports disabled people getting great jobs but it makes sense that they still have the right experience and qualifications. This feels like a box-ticking exercise.’ ‘W1A is meant to be a parody, not a documentary.’ The BBC has traditionally employed fully-qualified meteorologists and many of its current crop have a wealth of experience.