Comments on: Cashed-up Fairfax execs ask: why are journalists so greedy?

By: Marg B

Marg B — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Reminds me of the days of the National Minimum Wage case where some tosser in a $10,000 Armani suit would argue that business couldn’t afford a $10/week increase in the salaries of the poorest paid employees. The hypocrisy makes me sick!

By: andrew

andrew — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

The argument runs that executives are rewarded on the basis that they increase the profitability of the organization they run, media company or soft drink retailer. They increase profits; therefore, they should receive some of this extra profit. Their role is to increase money; the journo writes articles, the shop assistant sells beverages.

Fair enough I say. So far. But wouldn't it be lovely to see top executives suffer pain when profits dip/companies close. You may have noticed (the dripping sarcasm of this comment and) that profit is the direct result of the brilliance of the execs; any loss is global downturn, slowing in the economy, etc.

After years of study, I've recently started earning just north of $50, 000 a year. What on earth does one do with ten times that? twenty times, and more? It's easy to spend, of course; there are people working full time, earning good money themselves, to deprive the very wealthy of their hard earned cash. Porsche sales people and the like.

The rise of China and India will be fascinating. There is a bloody good chance that they will mirror the West. A handful controlling the majority of wealth, however that's defined. A decent middle class, a large working class. But the end of history has not yet been written. I offer no solution, just the observation that the next decade may be a tumultuous a time not seen since...the French revolution?

I may have strayed a bit there. Sorry!

By: Graham Overton

Graham Overton — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Gawd help us. Is anyone actually suggesting that journos are poorly paid? And the idea that Kennedy might refer to any human being as a mediocrity is a gag. The man defines the word.

By: andrew

andrew — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

By: Ron Lee

Ron Lee — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

As the CEO continues to focus himself on destroying a once iconic Australian brand I would be amazed if a similar analysis did not reveal exactly the same situation at Qantas in relation to the claim by about 1500 engineers for a 5% pay increase versus the 2% offered by management.

By: Alan Kennedy

Alan Kennedy — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Margaret is right that to give a kicking to the mediocrities running Fairfax for their hide in querying why the journos are greedily seeking a paltry 5 % per cent pay rise when the company is in a bad way.
I jumped ship a few years ago in the last days of the towering mediocrity Fred Hilmer (let's shut down the Age and the SMH) ably supported by Mark Scott who in a piece of revisionism after he left wondered whether he should have stood up to Fred a bit more. Yes you should have Mark. But he looks pretty good when compared t the current lot of ex footballers and throw away paper producers who now infest the upper echelons of Fairfax.
But a few things. I am not sure getting bucket loads of shares would be seen by the execs as particularly tempting. The share price has tanked and the company is on the nose with the institutions.
And may I fly a flag for one Fairfax executive who is under paid. Gail Hambly the general counsel was always tough to deal with. But she was straight as an arrow and a person you could trust. She understands the business better than most of the suits in that joint.
. The journos at Fairfax need everyone's support. It is not some elitist wank this campaign it is about quality journalism and the proper funding of robust questioning media.
If we achieve the dream of the Fairfax execs of a lot of lightweight down market web sites peddling floss we are all in a lot of trouble. The money at Fairfax needs to be spent on the product not the Neville Nobodies with their hyphenated names, silver spoons and inflated views of their own abilities.

By: Olivia Collings

Olivia Collings — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

I refer to the statement in the artcile about Fairfax job cuts. In a phone conference with investors and analyst today the question was put to Fairfax executives, David Kirk and Brian McCarthy, about the future of Canberra staff considering that The Age and The SMH have separate staff in Canberra, to which Kirk replied: ” We are looking at a range of options to combine those services and make savings.”
Ken Nichols might not be as clued-in as he makes out.

By: Cathy Morris

Cathy Morris — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Aren’t we all fed up with this same scenario coming from every corner of corporate Australia? Obscene unrealistic remunerations paid to Neville Nobodies to deliver essentially a simple task - profits for shareholders and CEO’s. De-regulation of the media has come at a huge cost for consumers with lousy short-changed content across-the-board. Newspapers, television and radio have all been dumbed-down simply to keep the bottom line black. Personally, I avoid the Fairfax product to save frustration. Crummy local and metro newspapers, corny radio in Sydney and Brisbane even the Domain site is broke! I really don’t understand why the federal government can’t see the danger in a communication shutdown. When Australians stop reading, listening or watching that alarms me. Perhaps it serves a purpose - the sillier the populace the more easily manipulated.