Lower Pay For Newsreaders Says TVNZ Boss
TVNZ autocue readers Richard Long and Judy Bailey could be getting cuts to their rumoured six figure salaries once the network’s new head finishes his “quiet revolution”.
The new chairman Dr. Ross Armstrong appointed yesterday said he could not see any other solution than to reduce the newsreaders’ salaries to make the state owned broadcaster more in tune with meeting its public responsibilities.
He said while he did not blame news readers for negotiating high level pay for themselves, he said he shared Prime Minister Helen Clark's revulsion at the 700,000-a-year salaries given to broadcaster Paul Holmes and former news reader John Hawkesby.
“We’re not really in a competitive business in New Zealand television”, he told a Wellington newspaper going on to suggest that newsreaders try and find better salaries elsewhere if they are not satisfied with their renumeration.
Dr. Armstrong, formally the chairman
of New Zealand Post, replaced outgoing chair Rosanne Meo who
resigned early this month after much political criticism of
the
network.