Paxman claims men at the BBC are given a raw deal
The Newsnight presenter, 58, suggested that white, middle-class men were overlooked in favour of women by his employer.
His controversial comments were played at a pre-recorded interview to the Edinburgh International Television Festival.
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Hide AdPaxman, 58, said: "Do I think it's a man's world in television? That is the most ridiculous question I have been asked all week.
"The worst thing you can be in this industry is a middle-class white male. If any middle-class white male I come across says he wants to enter television I say: 'Give up all hope.' They've no chance."
He listed five female executives in the industry as examples: Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision; Janice Hadlow, controller of BBC4; Dorothy Byrne, head of news, current affairs and documentaries at Channel 4; Jay Hunt, controller of BBC 1; and Dawn Airey, soon to be chief executive and chair of Five.
Broadcaster Mariella Frostrup dismissed the political interviewer's comments.
She said: "He lists five women because he couldn't possibly name all the men in positions of power in TV because he would be there all bloody day.
"He talks about middle-class white men being a beleaguered species on television. Well, excuse me, but Jonathan Ross, Jeremy on Newsnight. Look at the Today programme, Have I Got News For You, Newsnight."
Frostrup, who said she was once told by a male producer that her breastfeeding schedule was "inconvenient" for the BBC show she was working on, added: "It seems to me that TV is a fantastic place for middle-class white males.
"They are very much judged to be the people imbued with a sort of gravitas that women are still struggling to achieve.
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Hide Ad"The day that they find a direct causal link between bleach and brain power I will admit you can link blonde women together. It's not just blondes, brunettes that present news … For God's sake, we're not cattle."