Senior BBC staff must declare earnings from work undertaken outside of their day jobs.
The new process, which came into effect on January 1st, requires on-air talent in news and current affairs, sports news and some radio roles – plus senior leaders – to seek written approval from a divisional head of department before signing up to any external engagements.
The move was announced in October in the wake of a series of controversies involving staff including BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchettty, who was “reminded of the risk of conflict of interest” following a second instance of moonlighting.
She was paid to front a series of online interviews with “global leaders from the worlds of business, politics and sport” for banking giant Natwest.
New staff guidance on impartiality and social media use has already been published and new impartiality training will be rolled out from later this month.
The external engagements register will come into force today and data will be collected and held centrally. Details of staff activity will be published quarterly, with the first instalment due in April.
A BBC spokesperson says: “Full commitment to impartiality is the bedrock of the BBC and what our audiences expect. We’ve strengthened processes on external work to improve our record keeping, accountability and transparency – and ensure safeguards are in place to protect staff and the whole organisation.”
