Be careful for what you wish for

Here's an interesting story from the Daily Telegraph. And no, we don't mean one of those stories where the paper claims to have its hands on one of those "Dear Saddam...Yours Ever, Osama" memos that pop up every so often. The Telegraph reports on a new BBC policy that will bar its reporters from having newspaper columns. By doing this, the BBC hopes to pre-empt some of the likely criticism of bias that will emerge from the inquiry into David Kelly's death. But amongst those very unhappy about the new policy is none other than the Sunday Telegraph, which now fears that they will have to buy the BBC's John Simpson out of his long contract to write a column for them. And the Daily Telegraph story provides another interesting detail:

The ban will not apply to non-journalists such as the motoring presenter Jeremy Clarkson or to freelance journalists "whose main profile and income is not through the BBC".

The latter stipulation will exempt Andrew Neil, who presents the BBC's Westminster programme Daily Politics but is also the publisher of The Scotsman and The Business.

"It's absurd. Neil is as much a BBC face as anyone and he has been let off," said a BBC colleague.

That would be Andrew Neil, the Executive Editor of the Fox News Channel in its formative years, and thus a pioneer of the multiple-outlet biased reporting of the Vast Right-wing Conspiracy. Is there ever a downside for these guys?