Nick Robinson and Amol Rajan were the highest-paid BBC journalists for work and appearances outside of their work for the corporation in Q4 2023, according to the latest quarterly summary of paid-for external events undertaken by on-air staff published by the broadcaster.
The majority of staff events in the quarter involved payments of £5k or less, at 79.7% of all events disclosed, while 43.4% were below £1k.
All of the journalists who commanded a £10k+ appearance fee during the quarter were from the BBC’s News and Current Affairs division, with other departments such as Sport, Radio and Nations (including local TV and radio) some way behind.
The highest-paid hack was former political editor and current Radio 4 Today Programme host Nick Robinson. He attended three events paying £10k+ apiece in a fruitful November, with financial services firms/banks Nedbank, Ernst and Young and BNP Paribas footing the bill.
Amol Rajan had the second highest number of appearances paying £10k or more, appearing for the Pensions and Lifetime Association in October and MMC in November.
Fiona Bruce also had a £10k+ payday with the European Contact Centre for Customer Service, also in November, which was by some way the most active month for £10k+ appearance fees – December by contrast featured not a single five-figure guest slot, and also featured only one £5k-10K payout, from exclusive C-Suite organisation World 50 to Mishal Hussain
Clive Myrie was the other Beeb journo who commanded a £10k+ fee during the quarter, for his October appearance with the Black Police Officers Association.
The register was introduced in 2021 and details paid-for external work by staff in on-air journalism roles and senior leaders – all events must also be approved prior to being undertaken and meet the BBC’s rigorous Editorial Guidelines.
The External Events Register “forms part of the BBC’s renewed commitment to ensure the highest standards of impartiality across the organisation.”
