Clive Myrie issues apology to BBC for failure to disclose external earnings
Clive Myrie has offered his apologies to the BBC after it was revealed that the presenter did not declare additional earnings as required. The 60-year-old reportedly earns £310,000 from his broadcasting role at the corporation, along with an undisclosed sum from presenting the quiz show Mastermind. Myrie is renowned for his work as a news anchor on BBC’s News at One, News at Six, and News at Ten. Despite this, it has come to light that he earned an extra £65,000 from corporate events, which he neglected to report to his employer.
An investigation by The Sunday Times disclosed that Myrie failed to inform the BBC about 11 of these events. According to new rules implemented by the corporation’s director-general, Tim Davie, staff are required to disclose such external engagements on a monthly basis, with these declarations being made public every three months for transparency purposes. One of the major undisclosed events for Myrie was a speaking engagement at a Views From the Top dinner hosted by ING, a Dutch investment bank, at the Gherkin in London, for which he reportedly received over £10,000.
In addition to this, Myrie participated in various speaking engagements where he charged between £5,000 and £10,000 each. These included appearances at a conference for the National Residential Landlords Association, a dinner for Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, and the annual conference for the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce. He also received payment of £5,000 to £10,000 for attending an event for Anthology Together, an education technology company.
A BBC spokesperson stated: “We have had discussions with Clive regarding his obligations concerning the declaration of external events, and he has expressed regret for these oversights.” The BBC will update its register of external earnings in the upcoming quarterly publication to incorporate all the relevant events that were previously omitted.
This incident involving Myrie follows a recent controversy surrounding the BBC, where it had to address the matter of reclaiming £479,000 in pay from Huw Edwards after he pleaded guilty to offenses related to making indecent images.
Clive Myrie’s apology serves as a reminder of the importance of transparency and compliance with regulations within broadcasting organisations.