Barry in Twitter stoush over journo’s pay

MEDIA Watch host Paul Barry has taken time out from a two-month Christmas shutdown to ask a News Corp journalist how much he is paid via Twitter.

MEDIA Watch host Paul Barry has taken time out from a two-month shutdown over Christmas to ask a News Corp journalist how much he is paid via Twitter.

Barry took to Twitter this morning in response to an exclusive story revealing the public broadcaster spends vastly more of its budget on wages than its commercial counterparts.

After The Australian’s media business writer Darren Davidson tweeted a link to his story, Barry tweeted: “In the interests of transparency, Darren, are you full time or on contract? And how much are YOU paid?”

In response to Barry, Davidson tweeted: “I work FT, produce a lot, get paid less than ur $191,259, and don’t get 2 mnths off at Xmas to ‘pre-plan’ a weekly 14-min show.”

Davidson is employed by News Corp and his salary is not taxpayer funded.

Barry tweeted: “Good on you. And how much less would that be? I hope you’re not below average.”

Davidson replied: “As a private sector employee it’s not incumbent on me to reveal my salary unlike it is and should be for public servants.”

Barry finished presenting duties on Media Watch this week. The show returns in February.

A spokesman for the ABC said Barry and other high-profile presenters would “continue to work on production and planning” until February.

Asked if the presenters are paid full annual leave entitlements during the period, the spokesman said: “ABC staff receive standard leave allowances consistent with the awards.”

On Monday evening, Barry ignored questions from Davidson about that night’s edition.

Barry devoted an entire show to a thin analysis of newspaper circulation, despite news of 400 job cuts at the ABC breaking that morning. He briefly mentioned the cuts at the top of the program.

Davidson tweeted: “If you’re going to barely cover ABC cuts despite ample warning you can at least offer more than a lopsided analysis of papers.”

Barry examined the challenges faced by newspapers using Fairfax Media as his main example.

The presenter, who last year published a book on the Murdoch family despite an apparent conflict of interest with his Media Watch job, failed to mention that Fairfax is deliberately reducing the print runs of its major mastheads.

He also ignored that the recent ABC audit showed News Corp had delivered its best circulation result since the December 2012 quarter.

Davidson’s wages story revealed the public broadcaster spent 46 per cent of costs on wages last year, compared with 10.7 per cent for the free-to-air commercial television industry.

The wages costs blow-out at the ABC reinforces the government’s belief that the public broadcaster should be able to extract 5 per cent through efficiencies.

Commercial broadcasters have responded to structural challenges, a crop of overseas entrants and less demand from advertisers by spending less of their total costs on wages.

They have become more efficient by reducing full-time staff, while employing more contractors.

ABC wages are also higher than the average due to a more generous rate of superannuation and bigger base salaries than commercial media outlets.