The BBC Trust has recommended investigations into the payment of radio and news journalists at the BBC.
The report, which was commissioned to investigate if the BBC unduly influences the market for broadcasting talent, found that the corporation might be paying over the odds for its journalists and presenters of TV and radio news, and current affairs.
It said the BBC often paid ‘much higher’fees for radio talent than its commercial radio counterparts could afford to pay.
The rates for top BBC news talent were not included in the report, but its highest earners are thought to be on between £800,000-£1m a year.
The report conceded that the market for news talent was complex. Some high-profile presenters were on high rates of pay to retain their services in broadcasting generally, and not because they would go and work for rivals.
Responding to the report, the BBC executive said that its top news talent increasingly worked across multiple genres from radio to entertainment, and that competition for their services from other TV broadcasters was ‘very significant”.
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