60 Minutes reportedly paid $200k for the story of a backpacker who wandered around the bush for a few days. Meanwhile, Nine management sends out the below email:

I am writing to give you some outline of the approach to salary increases across the PBL Media group this year.

As a general guide there will, unfortunately, be no increase in salaries or wages for anyone on an annual review within PBL Media group this year (2009/10).

This policy will be applied equally to me, the senior management group which includes the CEO’s of all our businesses within PBLM, and any employee or executive at ACP Magazines, the NINE Network, NBN Broadcasting, Ticketek or PBL Media head office.

The only exceptions to this policy on wages will be where an individual’s employment conditions are prescribed by pre existing arrangements such as an employment contract, or an industrial instrument. I realise that even this approach will create some inequities where people covered by an industrial instrument or a prior existing arrangement will get an increase and some others around them will not. But there is nothing that can be done about that and we have no choice but to honour arrangements set in place before the impact of the global economic crisis.

I realise that the concept of no increase in wages is difficult for individuals.

And I am aware there has been a lot of uncertainty in recent months with a number of staff reductions across the group. We have had to work hard to get the business through this economic downturn and this meant our cost base had had to be amended to reflect our lower revenue base.

The freeze on salaries and wages will apply for 2009/10 and we will review the situation this time next year. It is to be hoped that conditions have improved by then and normal procedures will apply.

Kind regards,

Ian

Ian Law
Chief Executive Officer