BBC News at 10 host Huw Edwards bags £20,000 on top of his six-figure salary from speaking events in the first three months of this year
- He was also paid more than £10,000 to act as interviewer for a marketing company in January
Huw Edwards bagged at least £20,000 on top of his six-figure BBC salary from outside speaking events in the first three months of the year.
The News at Ten host, who was paid about £410,000 by the corporation last year, raked in between £10,000 and £20,000 across two consecutive days by acting as a host at external events in March.
The Welsh broadcaster, 61, was also paid more than £10,000 to act as interviewer for a marketing company in January.
He was among the top BBC news stars that continue to cash in with lucrative work from external events, with Mastermind host Clive Myrie and BBC Breakfast host Naga Munchetty among the top earners.
Myrie, 58, and Munchetty, 48, both earned at least £15,000 for these outside speaking engagements, during this period, new BBC disclosures reveal.
Huw Edwards bagged at least £20,000 on top of his six-figure BBC salary from outside speaking events in the first three months of the year
The News at Ten host, who was paid about £410,000 by the corporation last year, raked in between £10,000 and £20,000 across two consecutive days by acting as a host at external events in March
Two other BBC journalists, the Today programme’s Nick Robinson and technology reporter Zoe Kleinman, also received a payment in the highest ‘Over £10k’ category for external work.
Robinson, 59, received this fee to act as a speaker for the Scottish Energy Forum, a group which has been targeted by climate protesters.
Edwards, who was praised for his anchoring of the BBC’s coverage of the late Queen’s death, was paid more than £10,000 to act as an interviewer for marketing company the Inspired Thinking Group.
He then also pocketed two payments of ‘£5k – £10k’ acting as a host for the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, then a day later carrying out the same role for JBA Ltd.
Last year, it was revealed that the corporation’s highest paid news presenter made at least £25,000 in one month for work outside of the BBC, with four speaking engagements in March 2022.
Myrie, who is a news presenter and reporter, got paid more than £10,000 by a charity to act as a speaker. The journalist, who was paid £255,000 by the BBC last year, received the payment from the Alzheimer’s Society for the work done in March.
A month earlier he was paid between £5,000 and £10,000 as a ‘contributor’ by financial publishers Citywire.
Munchetty, who was on £365,000 last year at the corporation, took more than £10,000 from US computing giant Microsoft, to act as a moderator.
She also got up to £10,000 for carrying out the same role for Associated British Foods.
Three other top BBC journalists – Kirsty Wark, John Simpson and Lyse Doucet – had two payments in the £5,000 to £10,000 category in this period.
The external events register was introduced in 2021 as part of the BBC’s ‘renewed commitment’ to impartiality.
The BBC said in the three-month period 81 per cent of these external events involved payments of £5k or less and that 56 per cent were below £1k.
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