23 Nov 2013

We pay Tony Jones $355,789 pa to control the conversation on Q&A

From Fairfax media here. ABC investigators have tracked down the source of an embarrassing leak of the pay packets of its biggest and brightest stars. The culprit, as it turns out, was the ABC itself.
Managing director Mark Scott sent a mea culpa to staff on Friday afternoon for the “inadvertent” disclosure of the sensitive payroll data to a South Australian Family First MP.
“I want to apologise for our failure,” Mr Scott wrote in an email. “Clearly, at the ABC, this material was created and distributed in an inappropriate way.”
Journalists' union the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance is considering seeking an investigation by the Privacy Commissioner into the embarrassing blunder.
“The union is very concerned at the horrendous privacy breach,” an ABC union delegate said.
The accidental leaking might also upset the ABC's news and current affairs personalities and leading administrators, whose substantial pay packets were splashed across the front page of The Australian on Wednesday.
Among them: Q&A host Tony Jones ($355,789), Sydney news anchor Juanita Phillips ($316,454), radio presenter Richard Glover ($290,000) and 7.30 host Leigh Sales ($280,400).
Mr Scott ($678,940) had earlier thundered about the publication of the payroll data, ordering a “full and complete investigation about how this highly confidential information was accessed”. He had suspected the dastardly work of a Deep Throat or computer hackers. 


But, in an unexpected twist, that investigation has now revealed the data was accidentally sent by the ABC to the office of a South Australian MP, in response to a freedom of information request. Fairfax Media believes that request came from Family First Legislative Council member Robert Brokenshire.
The MP had sought simple summary information about ABC staff numbers in regional areas but was also inadvertently sent confidential pay information for all ABC staff over six years, including their annual salary, date of birth and nominated superannuation fund.
Neither bank account information nor tax file numbers were disclosed, Mr Scott said.
How the payroll data then found its way to a South Australian News Limited reporter is another matter entirely. Mr Brokenshire did not return calls.
ABC chief Mark Scott
The ABC will notify the Privacy Commissioner about the accidental release of the salary data, Mr Scott told staff. He also thanked the ABC's investigators for their top-notch forensic work.
“In any organisation, the release of this kind of information would be distracting and disruptive,” Mr Scott noted.        
The blunder would be particularly galling to Mr Scott, given the ABC has fought off freedom of information requests for the same data over several years.
Mr Scott insisted the ABC remained “the most trusted and respected media organisation in the country”. But the apparent disparity in what the ABC pays its staff has upset many. Some plan to petition management for more money in light of their peers' now public pay packets.

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