BBC stars bagging thousands from outside speaking events
Big BBC salary not enough? Stars Naga Munchetty, Nick Robinson and John Simpson among those at the Beeb bagging thousands from outside speaking events
The number of BBC news stars bagging big paydays from outside speaking events has shot up, with Nick Robinson, Naga Munchetty and John Simpson among those cashing in.
Ms Munchetty pocketed up to £50,000 in three months from external work.
The BBC Breakfast presenter, who is paid about £365,000 a year by the corporation, carried out five engagements that earned her between £5,000-£10,000 a time.
Today programme host Robinson, on about £270,000 at the BBC, received two payments of more than £10,000 for different events.
Ms Munchetty, who is paid about £365,000 a year by the corporation, carried out five engagements that earned her between £5,000-£10,000 a time.
Others who received a payment in the top tier of ‘over £10,000’ were veteran broadcaster Simpson, news presenter Clive Myrie, Europe editor Katya Adler and HARDTalk presenter Stephen Sackur, who got this amount twice.
Simpson and Myrie each also received one payment of between £5,000 and £10,000.
BBC figures show the external events gravy train is starting to roll again.
The number of payments in excess of £10,000 rose from two in the July to September quarter last year to seven in the new figures, which cover October to December.
The total number of payments made to BBC journalists for outside work nearly doubled.
There were 88 events in the July to September quarter, but 161 were declared in the latest figures.
Today programme host Robinson, on about £270,000 at the BBC, received two payments of more than £10,000 for different events
The BBC said 86 per cent of the external events in the latest figures involved ‘payments of £5,000 or less’ and 50 per cent were ‘below £1,000’.
A spokesman said: ‘We publish the external paid-for work of on-air journalists for transparency and every event is approved in line with our editorial guidelines.’
Fifty-eight per cent of Mail+ readers who voted in a poll say none of the current presenters is their favourite host of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Instead they chose the late Brian Redhead. Nick Robinson, 59, who has presented the show since 2015, was the most popular current host with 19 per cent of the vote in the poll of more than 2,900 readers.
Amol Rajan, 39, failed to impress listeners, with only 2 per cent of the vote.
John Simpson received one payment between £5,000 and £10,000
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