CNN International bosses continue to resist pressure from female staff to conduct an equal pay audit, instead setting up seven new internal committees to address concerns about how the organisation pays women.
Earlier this year, CNN International was one of several UK-based media companies to make headlines after disclosing its gender pay gap — the difference in average earnings for men and women. It revealed a 23.5% median gap in favour of men.
Staff want the organisation to come clean on equal pay and, for them, that means a full, independent audit into whether there are men at CNN being paid more than women for doing the same job.
BuzzFeed News has learned that management are refusing to conduct such an audit and CNN's parent company, Turner, has responded by setting up seven internal "diversity projects" — none of which include an audit.
According to a recent email, the seven projects have jargon-filled names like "Leader Stories" and "Long-term Female Talent Pipelining" — the latter is also led, or rather, "executive sponsored," by a male manager.
"More specifically, we have defined 7 projects that we believe will make a tangible and sustainable difference towards a more inclusive culture, and improving our gender pay gap across the different brands and teams," said a Turner executive to staff over email.
"These 7 projects will be led by a cross-divisional Steering Committee under the banner of 'Opportunity for All' and each project has an executive sponsor."
One CNN source said: "It's like a Thick of It–style solution to just making sure women are paid fairly."
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, a CNN spokesperson said: "We are fully and seriously committed to diversity and equality in every aspect of our business. We have introduced a number of initiatives to support this as part of a positive, ongoing conversation with employees.
"We have a robust framework for equal pay, which we monitor carefully and continuously, ensuring that we can compare salaries for like-for-like roles across the business."
As BuzzFeed News has revealed previously, embarrassing gender pay figures at ITV and Channel 4 led to female staff collectivising and pushing for better conditions.
The BBC led the way, calling in independent accounts and lawyers to review the British broadcaster's gender pay and equal pay.
For CNN International, female staff demanded to know more from management after the 23.5% median pay gap was revealed.
Audio from an April meeting leaked to BuzzFeed News revealed CNN International managing director Tony Maddox telling staff he was "shocked and disappointed" after learning of the figures.
However, Maddox also admitted to those gathered: "To be absolutely candid with you, this survey has prompted us to do something we aren't doing."
Since then, a group of women among CNN London staff have been appealing to management to follow the BBC's example and conduct an audit of all pay across the business.
But after being briefed by managers on the new "diversity projects" earlier this month, one senior woman journalist agitating for the audit said management were not backing down.
"As part of the discussion, we asked again for a formal equal pay audit, as we still believe this would be the most transparent and effective way of tackling any concerns or questions about this issue," the senior journalist told her colleagues over email.
"However, the company says they are not currently planning to do one."
One CNN source guessed that management likely didn't want a company-wide audit because it could expose the gulf in pay for CNN staff operating in different countries around the world.