I like the Guardian’s online offerings. Comment is free is a worthy addition to the blogosphere. And I enjoy listening to Media Guardian’s podcast on my regular train journeys to Leeds and Chester.

But I wasn’t impressed by the feature on BBC salaries on the 14 July Media podcast. It was bar room banter with lazy, cheap shots about BBC’s top team salaries. Matt Wells and Emily Bell are entitled to question whether the Beeb’s top salaries are justified – especially if the troops get far lower increases – but their comments descended to the dubious reasoning that ‘the BBC is in the public sector and thousands would accept lower salaries to be DG’. Yes, I’d do the job for less. But I doubt that I’d enhance the BBC’s status as a world class media player. Bell’s comment that the private sector doesn’t pay bonuses for ‘just doing the job’ was laughable.

The Guardian’s podcast blog invited comments. I tried to leave a comment – but was told that comments weren’t allowed. So much for comment being free. But then the Guardian is a competitor of the BBC – so cheap shots are much more rewarding than reasoned debate.