Guardian coy on columnists' income

Guardian columnist George Monbiot caused a bit of a stir yesterday by publishing a 'registry of interests' on his website, which declares his earnings, savings and investments.

The key figure, since you ask - his annual contract with the Guardian - is £62,007, while he also has a £40,000 deal with Penguin book publishers over 3-4 years and earns £5,400 rent from lodgers.

But while the Guardian has been keen to champion a more open, transparent form of journalism post-phone hacking, it seems his employers weren't entirely thrilled at his decision to be quite so, erm, specific.

The MediaGuardian covered the story, with the £62k figure, as soon as he published the register - but there was an interesting word in the first line: 'Guardian columnist George Monbiot has called on journalists to sign up to a mandatory register of interests – and taken the first step by unilaterally declaring his own'. Unilaterally?

And then there's today's paper, which features a front page plug for George's declaration and the strapline: 'Want to know how much I earn?'

Only problem is, when you get to the article itself (the online version of the print article is here), as Harry Wallop points out, you won't find out. There isn't actually a figure.

So why is the Guardian so coy about the numbers? Well, for a start, now everyone else on Fleet Street knows exactly how much it costs to poach him. And then there's his better-paid/worse-paid colleagues, who'll be immediately looking at their own contracts again.

Transparency on pay is all very well for the readers. Just so long as the journalists don't find out how much their colleagues are earning.