Tight lines

The Sunday Times believes BBC DG Tim Davie is close to announcing new regulations that will place more scrutiny on the outside interests of news presenters. The paper talks of a "rigorous clearance process before they take on outside speaking events, a record of which will be held centrally."

"A BBC presenter said the corporation was expected to publish this record, probably every quarter, including the size of payments, in a similar vein to the MPs’ register of financial interests."

I really hope the scheme has been more thought through than this. If we're compelling news presenters to reveal how much they get from 'speaking events', why not also make it clear how much they earn from writing books, articles and presenting non-news shows ? And, perhaps, whether or not some of their clothes are provided by manufacturers at discount rates ? And if they speak for no fee, what about benefits in kind, like, say a weekend in a top foreign resort ? Or a free holiday for a newspaper review ? 

We are told "the register of external work is aimed at presenters, correspondents and managers, where conflicts of interest are more likely to arise."   But there are some news presenters who only work the odd day a week for the BBC - are we really asking them to reveal all their other earnings ?  And why, if the BBC is to put on a hair shirt like this, shouldn't the register apply to regional tv hosts and local radio presenters ?