WEBVTT - TV’s million-dollar journos

0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.840
<v Speaker 1>From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:14.680
<v Speaker 1>It's Monday, May twenty six, twenty twenty five. One of

0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:19.200
<v Speaker 1>the AFL's most memorable players, Warick Kappa, says he's concerned

0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:22.759
<v Speaker 1>about his cognitive decline and believes the CODE didn't do

0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:26.360
<v Speaker 1>enough to protect him and other players from head trauma.

0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:30.320
<v Speaker 1>That's an exclusive live today at the Australian dot com

0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:38.040
<v Speaker 1>dot au. Business leaders want to slow the introduction of

0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:41.599
<v Speaker 1>Fair Work Commission pay rises for health and childcare workers,

0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:44.400
<v Speaker 1>saying it's too much for employers to come up with

0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:48.800
<v Speaker 1>wage increases of up to twenty eight percent immediately. That'll

0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:55.720
<v Speaker 1>blow up into a dispute with unions. Who's the highest

0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:59.600
<v Speaker 1>earner on TV and who earns six hundred grand for

0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:03.440
<v Speaker 1>two hours work? Today the top salaries on Free to

0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:07.520
<v Speaker 1>Wear TV and why the glory days of superstar salaries

0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:21.679
<v Speaker 1>are coming to an end. Steve Jackson is The Australian's

0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:26.880
<v Speaker 1>media writer, and today he's publishing the inaugural Media Rich List. JACKO,

0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:29.560
<v Speaker 1>this list should be making both you and I feel

0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:30.199
<v Speaker 1>a bit angry.

0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.360
<v Speaker 2>I think yes and no angry that we aren't on

0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:35.039
<v Speaker 2>this sort of money. But it's good to know that

0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:37.120
<v Speaker 2>there are people out there on this sort of cash.

0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:39.959
<v Speaker 2>And if we work hard and get the right brakes,

0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.600
<v Speaker 2>we too will know ever to earn this amount because

0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:44.479
<v Speaker 2>it's going to be gone very soon. But it's nice

0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:46.040
<v Speaker 2>to know some people are raking it in while we're

0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:47.360
<v Speaker 2>the good times last, who's.

0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:49.160
<v Speaker 1>The Ginna Reinhardt of Australian media.

0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:50.520
<v Speaker 2>Karl Stefanovic.

0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:56.440
<v Speaker 1>Just keep it at real people.

0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:03.800
<v Speaker 2>Karl has long been the highest paid person on Australian television.

0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:07.640
<v Speaker 2>In fact, he's the highest paid person involved in television

0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:10.120
<v Speaker 2>except for the people who own the networks. He was

0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.359
<v Speaker 2>made a millionaire by Dave Ginjel back when David Lecky

0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.839
<v Speaker 2>tried to poach him across to seven. Lecky never forgot that.

0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:19.200
<v Speaker 2>I met with him for lunch a couple of weeks

0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:21.600
<v Speaker 2>before he passed and he was still talking about how

0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:24.440
<v Speaker 2>Carl had dudded him after agreeing to switch networks. But

0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.560
<v Speaker 2>basically Ginjel put him on this multimillion dollar deal to

0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:30.280
<v Speaker 2>keep him there and then he's been on it ever since.

0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:33.000
<v Speaker 2>Hugh Marx, when he was the chief of Channel nine,

0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:35.320
<v Speaker 2>did manage to bring it down. He was bringing it

0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:38.680
<v Speaker 2>all the pays back in line with something that was

0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:42.640
<v Speaker 2>probably a more feasible amount. But then after Hu Marx left,

0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:45.840
<v Speaker 2>Sneezey bumped Carl back up to two point eight million

0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:46.200
<v Speaker 2>a year.

0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.720
<v Speaker 1>David Ginjel, who you mentioned, was the favored sign of

0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.880
<v Speaker 1>the Packers. He was the boss of Channel nine in

0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:56.120
<v Speaker 1>the tail end of the glory days. Really is Carl

0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:58.959
<v Speaker 1>and his salary the last remnant of those Packer glory

0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:02.320
<v Speaker 1>days when salaries were huge and personalities were also huge.

0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:05.440
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's that thing about television from an era where

0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:08.160
<v Speaker 2>everyone was tuning into it and you kind of had

0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:10.040
<v Speaker 2>three options of what you're going to watch at night,

0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:13.040
<v Speaker 2>and it really mattered if you had these stars on

0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:13.600
<v Speaker 2>your network.

0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.160
<v Speaker 1>Okay, Number two is not a journalist. It's Scott Cam,

0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:21.040
<v Speaker 1>who's a bit of an everyman. He won the Gold

0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.120
<v Speaker 1>Logi a few years ago, famously hosts the.

0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.040
<v Speaker 2>Blog Look, I tell you what.

0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:28.320
<v Speaker 3>I haven't had a drink in a week, which I

0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:29.720
<v Speaker 3>haven't done a seventies.

0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:35.440
<v Speaker 2>I'll tell you what. I've gone to school. I am

0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:37.400
<v Speaker 2>going to strangle a few tonight. Let me tell you

0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:38.680
<v Speaker 2>if I get it made get it?

0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.560
<v Speaker 1>Why is Scott Cam earning two point four million dollars.

0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:47.480
<v Speaker 2>Scott Cam is the face of probably one of the

0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:50.440
<v Speaker 2>most important shows on Channel nine. The block has been

0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:54.000
<v Speaker 2>a staple of its line up since two thousand and nine,

0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:56.560
<v Speaker 2>I think, and what's so important about it is it

0:03:56.560 --> 0:04:00.080
<v Speaker 2>makes heaps of money. It brings in product placement. The

0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.760
<v Speaker 2>sets actually effectively don't cost anything because they auction them

0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:04.680
<v Speaker 2>off at the end of the show and recoup all

0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:07.840
<v Speaker 2>the outlays that they've spent buying them. Legend has it

0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:11.040
<v Speaker 2>Scott Cam was enjoying a beer at the local watering

0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:13.840
<v Speaker 2>hole near nine and he was talent spotted, ended up

0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:16.600
<v Speaker 2>working with Jamie Jury and then just becoming probably one

0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.479
<v Speaker 2>of the most popular people on Australian TV. He's the

0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.840
<v Speaker 2>most loved trade in the country. You'd have to say the.

0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:26.280
<v Speaker 1>Next two also come from what you'd broadly call light entertainment.

0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:29.599
<v Speaker 1>I guess Hamish Blake and then Larry MdeR earning two

0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:33.599
<v Speaker 1>million and one point six million dollars respectively. Hamish Blake

0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:36.800
<v Speaker 1>is really a self made personality, isn't he.

0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:39.160
<v Speaker 2>He is, without a doubt one of the funniest men

0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:42.000
<v Speaker 2>in the country. Everything he turns his hand to is

0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:45.920
<v Speaker 2>a success. The amazing thing about Hamish's last show, which

0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:48.640
<v Speaker 2>has now been going for four or five years, Lego

0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.279
<v Speaker 2>Master's as I remember being at nine when it launched,

0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:54.840
<v Speaker 2>and the wisdom at television is you don't say what

0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:56.920
<v Speaker 2>you think of the show until the ratings come in.

0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:00.719
<v Speaker 2>So as it was being rolled out everything Lego, that's

0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:03.320
<v Speaker 2>going to be interesting the moment the numbers dropped and

0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:06.200
<v Speaker 2>it was a huge hit. Always knew Lego was going

0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:09.560
<v Speaker 2>to win, but the fact that Hamish Blake can make

0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.400
<v Speaker 2>a show about building stuff out of Lego into one

0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:16.360
<v Speaker 2>of the most entertaining programs on television shows what his genius.

0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:23.280
<v Speaker 3>Is and the gold LOGI goes to Larry Emder for

0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:26.440
<v Speaker 3>The Chase Australia in the morning SHOWY seven Network.

0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:31.320
<v Speaker 4>On my very first day going to the Channel seven

0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:33.760
<v Speaker 4>newsroom as a cub reporter, I said, Dad, what am

0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:35.720
<v Speaker 4>I doing there for my job? And he goes, may

0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:39.240
<v Speaker 4>just be nice to everyone, Just be nice to everyone.

0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:41.600
<v Speaker 4>But I came home after a couple of weeks and

0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:43.279
<v Speaker 4>Dad said, how's it going. I said, Dad, I'm trying

0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:44.799
<v Speaker 4>with there's so many assholes in this business.

0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:53.520
<v Speaker 2>Larry actually started his career as a copyboy in a

0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:56.280
<v Speaker 2>newspaper in Sydney. He dropped out of high school at

0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.680
<v Speaker 2>fifteen to chance his luck at journalism, and he actually

0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:03.400
<v Speaker 2>ended up becoming, at the age of just nineteen, the

0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:06.800
<v Speaker 2>youngest national news anchor in the country. While a lot

0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.280
<v Speaker 2>of people on the list are there for earning a

0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:11.680
<v Speaker 2>lot of money for one job, Larry's one of those

0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.800
<v Speaker 2>guys that fills in for people when they're off. He

0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:17.440
<v Speaker 2>hosts the Morning Show, which is incredibly important because of

0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.599
<v Speaker 2>the amount of money it brings in through advertorials and advertising,

0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.640
<v Speaker 2>and he also hosts a Dailey afternoon game show, which

0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.800
<v Speaker 2>again is critical to the six pm bulletins as it

0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:30.239
<v Speaker 2>gives a leading into the six pm news.

0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.039
<v Speaker 1>Now we get to number five before we encounter a woman.

0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.000
<v Speaker 1>That's Natalie bar Co, host of Sunrise on seven on

0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.320
<v Speaker 1>one point three million dollars. She's a great example I

0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:44.719
<v Speaker 1>reckon of tenacity. She started out as the newsreader on

0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:47.040
<v Speaker 1>Sunrise when she was really quite young, having come there

0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:50.080
<v Speaker 1>from being a news reporter. And she's just stuck with it,

0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:52.240
<v Speaker 1>hasn't she. And now she's eclipsed the people who used

0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:52.919
<v Speaker 1>to be the hosts.

0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.720
<v Speaker 2>It's interesting to see with matt Is when she replaced

0:06:57.000 --> 0:06:59.800
<v Speaker 2>Samantha Armitage as the full time co host of sun

0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:05.040
<v Speaker 2>People weren't quite sure. Samantha had this larger than life personality,

0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:08.200
<v Speaker 2>very much talked about in the media.

0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:11.600
<v Speaker 3>Coming to Alix Springs, it was just one thing that

0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:12.600
<v Speaker 3>I wanted to do.

0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:14.720
<v Speaker 1>I wanted to drive a road train.

0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:22.040
<v Speaker 2>Natalie was a more straight, hard news journo and she's coming.

0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:25.720
<v Speaker 2>She's brought a completely different flavor to Sunrise and you'll

0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.480
<v Speaker 2>see it quite often being ridden up in the media

0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:32.400
<v Speaker 2>for hard hitting questions at breakfast and I hope that.

0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:34.440
<v Speaker 1>They pick up their game. Okay, look with respect, you

0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:38.520
<v Speaker 1>just haven't answered the question. We know what Pontus is doing.

0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:41.040
<v Speaker 2>I think she's really earned the respect of that audience

0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.400
<v Speaker 2>and probably deservedly her place at the top of the

0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:46.400
<v Speaker 2>country's highest paid female journalist.

0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:49.640
<v Speaker 1>Alison Langdon, the host of nine As a Current Affair,

0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:53.119
<v Speaker 1>comes next on one point two million dollars. She's another

0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:57.239
<v Speaker 1>Stayer and she's gone from news to pretty gritty reporting

0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:01.120
<v Speaker 1>for sixty minutes over a decade. Now in Australia, hosting

0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.800
<v Speaker 1>a Current Affair and replacing the beloved longtime host Tracy Grimshaw.

0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:07.360
<v Speaker 1>It's really hard to step into the shoes of someone

0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:09.040
<v Speaker 1>like Tracy, isn't it, But she seems to have made

0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:09.720
<v Speaker 1>a success of it.

0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:10.640
<v Speaker 4>She has.

0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:13.440
<v Speaker 2>And the thing that I think is interesting about Alison

0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:17.120
<v Speaker 2>is she's one of those people who makes things look easy.

0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:20.559
<v Speaker 2>I've had the opportunity to produce stories for her, working

0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:23.400
<v Speaker 2>with her at sixty Minutes, and she's got this uncanny

0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.360
<v Speaker 2>knack where it just looks like she's calm and relaxed

0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:28.720
<v Speaker 2>and it's all very easy. But what you don't see

0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:32.120
<v Speaker 2>is like a duck swimming on the water. She's paddling

0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:36.600
<v Speaker 2>like that underneath, works incredibly hard, involved in every aspect

0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:38.200
<v Speaker 2>of making the show, and I'm sure she'll be the

0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:40.600
<v Speaker 2>same doing that in a current Affair. A Current Affair

0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:45.439
<v Speaker 2>is a very exciting mix of light and bright, fun news,

0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:50.080
<v Speaker 2>quirky stuff, but also hard hitting investigations. She's covered all

0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.520
<v Speaker 2>that gamut and she's really at home introducing those stories,

0:08:52.520 --> 0:09:01.319
<v Speaker 2>and I think everyone out there really likes her as well.

0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:05.080
<v Speaker 1>It's eight years now since Lisa Wilkinson quit the Today

0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:08.000
<v Speaker 1>Show in a fury at the fact that she just

0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:11.079
<v Speaker 1>could not negotiate a wage as high as Karl Stefanovic's

0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:15.000
<v Speaker 1>looking at the wages of the women who are in

0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:17.280
<v Speaker 1>this top ten, the next to a Sonya Krueger at

0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:19.880
<v Speaker 1>one point two million and Kylie Gillies at one point

0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:23.760
<v Speaker 1>one Did Lisa make a big mistake stepping away for

0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:25.680
<v Speaker 1>just a measly million dollars?

0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:30.520
<v Speaker 2>I think so. It's a difficult one with Lisa because

0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.600
<v Speaker 2>her pairing with Karl was fantastic. They were phenomenal together,

0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:39.720
<v Speaker 2>great chemistry. I don't think anyone was expecting it to

0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:42.800
<v Speaker 2>go as far as it did and completely break down. Obviously,

0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.000
<v Speaker 2>hu Marx said no, we're not doing it, put his

0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:49.120
<v Speaker 2>foot down, and he had some valid reasons, but I

0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:51.640
<v Speaker 2>think that was very much the beginning of network chief

0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:53.920
<v Speaker 2>executives to say, hey, we've got a real this in

0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:58.079
<v Speaker 2>because we just simply can't afford to pay insane salaries anymore.

0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.800
<v Speaker 1>There are two personalities at number nine and number ten.

0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:06.080
<v Speaker 1>That's Peter Roverton and Tracy Grimshaw, both on roughly a

0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:09.439
<v Speaker 1>million dollars. Why is Tracy Grimshaw still earning a million dollars?

0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:12.920
<v Speaker 2>Well, it's a little bit deceptive. Tracy's not quite earning

0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:15.280
<v Speaker 2>a million dollars. She's on a year by year contract

0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:17.280
<v Speaker 2>and that may have been reduced to about half a

0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:20.360
<v Speaker 2>million dollars. It's one of those things that's being reviewed

0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:24.360
<v Speaker 2>at the moment because last year with this deal, she

0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.199
<v Speaker 2>did a four part series on blue zones around the

0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:30.880
<v Speaker 2>world and one interview with el McPherson for sixty minutes.

0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:36.640
<v Speaker 2>And unfortunately the days where networks could warehouse staff to

0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:40.320
<v Speaker 2>prevent them doing reports on rival networks are gone, so

0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.320
<v Speaker 2>the accountants really have to go, how can we justify this?

0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:47.160
<v Speaker 2>Is that value for money? The thing is that we

0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:51.280
<v Speaker 2>know that once you release a network talent and they're

0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:53.920
<v Speaker 2>well known with people, they will get picked up to

0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.320
<v Speaker 2>do stuff elsewhere. So we saw with Liz Hayes departing

0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:00.000
<v Speaker 2>Niner for forty four years earlier this year in February,

0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:02.960
<v Speaker 2>that within months she was doing a guest appearance on

0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:05.719
<v Speaker 2>Channel seven Spotlight. So it's one of those things that

0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:09.640
<v Speaker 2>Nine's developed. All these people, how do they retain them?

0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:12.680
<v Speaker 2>Traditionally they just pay them to only file the odd

0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.040
<v Speaker 2>report for nine. That's no longer feasible.

0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:23.480
<v Speaker 1>Coming up the journo who's paid six hundred grand for

0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:43.520
<v Speaker 1>two hours of TV a week. I think we can

0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:47.559
<v Speaker 1>accept that salaries in media are based on market forces.

0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.199
<v Speaker 1>It's not a meritocracy. You don't get the money because

0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:52.400
<v Speaker 1>you're better than everybody else. You get it because other

0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:57.199
<v Speaker 1>people potentially want you. Nowadays, in the present environment of television,

0:11:57.360 --> 0:11:59.920
<v Speaker 1>does that still apply? I mean, is anyone going to

0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:04.080
<v Speaker 1>offer Karl Stefanovic an equivalent salary to come to seven.

0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.560
<v Speaker 2>There is still network poaching, but the poachings at the

0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:11.120
<v Speaker 2>lower level. We saw Joel dry being poached from seven

0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:15.360
<v Speaker 2>to go anchor nine News in Brisbane, but we're talking

0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:19.400
<v Speaker 2>about twenty grand pay rises. Ten grand pay rises Joel

0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:21.600
<v Speaker 2>being poached to nine. That's for a quarter of a

0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:24.679
<v Speaker 2>million dollars. And I think what we've seen now is

0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:28.360
<v Speaker 2>with the generational change, it shows like sixty minutes, those

0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:31.640
<v Speaker 2>reporters aren't on anywhere near the same amount that their

0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:32.560
<v Speaker 2>predecessors were.

0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:34.800
<v Speaker 1>One name that stuck out to me on your list

0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:37.880
<v Speaker 1>was number eighteen, Georgia Gardner from nine on six hundred

0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:46.280
<v Speaker 1>thousand dollars. This there's nine New with Georgia Gardner. Good evening.

0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:50.080
<v Speaker 1>We begin with breaking news and very sad news. I

0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:53.760
<v Speaker 1>don't see Georgie on TV that much pro rata.

0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:57.199
<v Speaker 2>Georgie is the best paid journalist in the country. And

0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:59.200
<v Speaker 2>it's a legacy from when she was brought in to

0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:01.640
<v Speaker 2>do the Today Show. She got a massive bump up

0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.760
<v Speaker 2>because she was the Today Show host. Again, that didn't

0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.840
<v Speaker 2>work out. The experiment was canned after a year, but

0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:10.600
<v Speaker 2>she remained on that salary because that contract was locked in.

0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.520
<v Speaker 2>Georgie is a hard working journalist, really well aliked and

0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.920
<v Speaker 2>known in Sydney. But she's on six hundred thousand to

0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.720
<v Speaker 2>present the news two nights a week in Sydney alone

0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:24.120
<v Speaker 2>and obviously filling for Peter when he's unavailable. But I mean,

0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:26.080
<v Speaker 2>it's not bad money. If you can get it, no

0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:26.800
<v Speaker 2>one can get it.

0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:37.600
<v Speaker 1>Steve Jackson is The Australian's media writer. His diary column

0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.640
<v Speaker 1>is onmissible. You can check it out right now at

0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:42.720
<v Speaker 1>the Australian dot com dot au