Media’s Tough Times Spare Australia’s TV Network Executives

With commercial TV networks Nine and Seven embroiled in scandals, industrial unrest, profit drops, and mass redundancies recently, you’d almost feel sorry for their chief executives. Almost. The salaries for these top jobs are eye-watering.

One would think these highly paid professionals would avoid the damaging headlines resulting from their decisions. Where was the corporate good sense when Seven recruited sexy Santas for a staff meeting and when Nine’s chief executive chose to participate in an Olympic torch relay in Paris while 500 journalists were on strike?

The base pay of the all-male executive lineup – inflated by bonuses, shares, and options – is detailed in the annual reports published recently alongside the companies’ full-year results.

Over at Nine Entertainment, the top brass declined to take all the bonuses they were entitled to, given the company’s financial struggles.

The total remuneration of Nine’s chief executive, Mike Sneesby, decreased to $2.1 million from $2.7 million in 2023, after he took a significant cut to his bonus. His base salary is $1.5 million. However, there was some compensation for Sneesby; he enjoyed a week in Paris in the best hotel and participated in the Olympic torch relay.

Nine’s chief sales officer, Michael Stephenson, also gave up some of his bonuses, with his total remuneration dropping from $2.2 million to $1.8 million.

At Seven West Media, the financial rewards are also substantial. According to the annual report, the chief executive, Jeff Howard, earned $1.25 million in the 2024 financial year, 35% of which was performance-related bonuses.

Howard, the former chief financial officer, took over as chief executive and managing director in April, so his pay increase will be better reflected next year.

His predecessor, James Warburton, who left the company in April amid a tumultuous period for the broadcaster, walked away with $2.3 million including a termination payment of $265,000.

Seven’s former chief revenue officer, Kurt Burnette, earned an impressive $2.6 million, including a $939,000 termination payment when he left the company in June after 34 years.

But it was the veteran commercial director and legal counsel Bruce McWilliam who topped the pay list at Seven, earning $1.64 million, including a $544,000 termination payment.

McWilliam, who was the Seven West chairman Kerry Stokes’s right-hand man for decades, played a minor role in the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial, explaining in an affidavit why the network had not handed over more documents related to the Spotlight interview with Lehrmann when subpoenaed last year.

There was some joy in the radio ratings for the ABC this week, with ABC Melbourne growing its total audience to a 6.6% share over the past three months.

The ABC’s new audio boss, Ben Latimer, has vowed to get ABC local radio “back to where it needs to be” post-COVID after it fell to historic lows.

Leading the station’s revival is comedian and breakfast host, Sammy J, whose share increased from 7.3% to 8.2% overall.

Making the most of his win, Sammy J poked fun at a rival breakfast show on KIIS FM.

The shock jocks Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson have been trying to replicate their Sydney ratings success in the Victorian market with no luck.

“All these months asking my ABC listeners whether they’ve done anal has really paid off,” Sammy joked in an Instagram story this week.

Sandilands recently pressed Jackie O for her opinions on anal sex, while introducing himself as an “ex F-boy, coke-sniffing arsehole”.

Meanwhile, Radio National’s breakfast show, hosted by Patricia Karvelas, saw a slight increase in its audience share from 2.2% to 2.3%.

That did not stop The Australian from opting for a negative angle on PK, a former staffer for the News Corp paper who frequently features in a negative light on the pages of the media section.

“ABC Radio National’s breakfast program, hosted by Patricia Karvelas, has lost a large slice of its audience in the past year,” The Australian’s headline said.

Instead of counting RN Breakfast’s share of the listening audience, the Oz highlighted the number of listeners. “The poll shows her program now has 79,000 listeners in Sydney, down from 100,000 in the corresponding survey in 2023,” they wrote.

“Karvelas slightly increased her audience share – the percentage of the total radio audience during a given period – in Melbourne and Sydney by 0.1 percentage points over the past three months.”

The ABC is currently reviewing Radio National’s operations and branding.

Radio National, which fell overall from 1.6% to 1.5%, has been hit this month by the launch of a new ABC listen app. Staff say technical issues and the design of the app mean listeners can’t share or download their favourite shows, resulting in decreased audiences.

Brace yourselves for another Kim Williams lecture next month when the ABC chair delivers the Lowy Institute media lecture on 25 September.

Williams has made quite the splash with his opinions since he arrived at Ultimo headquarters in March, speaking his mind in public and private addresses.

The outgoing managing director, David Anderson, is a far more taciturn leader, not enjoying the limelight quite as much as Williams.

In his first public address to the State Library of Victoria in June, he outlined his vision for the ABC as a cultural force for national cohesion in the face of threats from the internet, social media, and artificial intelligence.

The executive director of the Lowy Institute, Michael Fullilove, said Williams was an excellent choice because “no Australian media outlet has more journalists reporting from foreign soil than the ABC”.

The lecture, delivered at the Lowy media awards dinner, has been presented each year since 2013 to recognize excellence in coverage of international affairs by Australian journalists and media outlets.

Finalists in the media awards are the ABC’s former South Asia correspondent Avani Dias, the Age and Sydney Morning Herald foreign affairs and national security correspondent, Matthew Knott, and The Australian’s foreign affairs and defense correspondent, Ben Packham.

The Australian newspaper has dropped out of the top 20 news sites in July, as measured by Ipsos.

The Australian, which claims to be “the country’s most trusted source of news, insight, analysis and opinion,” is a niche product indeed.

The top spot was regained by news.com.au after it was beaten in June by ABC News. The popular Murdoch-owned site, which has no paywall, had an audience of 12.9 million, followed closely by ABC on 12.7 million.

Guardian Australia was in seventh spot with 7.2 million, ahead of the Age, the Herald Sun, the West Australian, and The Australian, which was beaten by the AFL site in 20th spot with 3.3 million.

Insights into media operations can be gleaned from court cases. This has been the case in the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial and now details behind the reporting of Robert Ovadia’s dismissal from the Seven network have been unveiled in federal court.

On 7 June media reported Ovadia was on leave while Seven conducted an internal investigation into allegations of “inappropriate behavior”.

After he was sacked two weeks later, Ovadia filed an unfair dismissal claim, which was heard for the first time this week.

Ovadia’s lawyers argue their client’s conduct does not amount to sexual harassment or serious misconduct and allege he was unlawfully sacked.

“No reasonable employer could have formed the view that the conduct amounted to sexual harassment, the photo was not conduct of a sexual nature,” the statement of claim filed in federal court said.

In the statement, Ovadia also alleges his boss, Anthony De Ceglie, briefed journalists about his being stood down.

The former West Australian newspaper chief was promoted to the new role of director of news and current affairs and editor-in-chief of Seven West Media in June.

“On 6 and 7 June 2024 [De Ceglie] made statements to the media that [Ovadia] had been stood down and that the applicant was being investigated for engaging in misconduct in the form of sexual harassment of a female colleague,” Ovadia alleges.

The journalists he spoke to allegedly include the Daily Telegraph’s entertainment reporter Jonathan Moran.

“The statements were meant to demean, offend, and injure the applicant,” Ovadia says.

At the first hearing on Thursday, Seven alleged that 13 more women came forward with complaints about his conduct.

The 51-year-old, who has told the court he is suffering from acute stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and depression, said after court that Seven’s claims were “baseless” and the network has provided no evidence to support its claims.

• In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org