ABC staff are being “rewarded” for their “left-wing bias” with an 11 per cent pay rise, says media insider Sophie Elsworth.
The Australian’s Media Writer Sophie Elsworth says every ABC employee is about to have a “bucket of cash dropped into their wallets”
A media insider has claimed the ABC has rewarded its staff for their unobjective reporting through a double-digit pay rise.
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance on Wednesday morning confirmed thousands of ABC employees will be awarded an 11 per cent pay increase and $1,500 bonuses.
They will also receive an audit of gender, racial and regional pay gaps and improved access to pay progression.
The new enterprise agreement was passed in a staff vote with 94.4 per cent accepting the revised pay, ending months of negotiations for wage increases and working conditions.
The Australian’s Media Writer Sophie Elsworth told Sky News Australia that the broadcaster’s employees will receive “a bucket of cash”.
“Every ABC employee is about to have a bucket of cash dropped into their wallets while the rest of many media employees are battling with their commercial viability,” she told Andrew Bolt on Wednesday night.
“But over at the ABC it’s happy days, pay rises coming their way.”
Ms Elsworth claimed that staff over at the government-owned broadcaster were being “rewarded”, despite plummeting ratings and “left-wing bias”.
“(Ratings) doesn’t really matter, we had a story in The Australian this week that there’s an external group basically come in hired to come into the ABC to look at why their radio ratings are in freefall,” she said.
“Left-wing bias is, I would argue, greater than ever at the ABC, they’re being rewarded for that.”
In relation to bias that “plagued” the ABC, Ms Elsworth questioned Q+A presenter Stan Grant’s recent comments against his employer.
Mr Grant made headlines this week when he spoke about the “visceral anger” he felt following the ABC’s “obsequious” coverage of Queen Elizabeth’s death, detailing the crown represented “deep and ongoing suffering” for First Nations people.
“I felt in my own organisation a sense of betrayal,” he said on ABC Breakfast on Monday.
Ms Elsworth criticised the comments, saying Mr Grant is “meant to be objective” as a presenter.
“When you’re a journalist, you have to leave those views at the door and be objective,” she said.
“And if he can’t do that maybe the ABC needs to look at the tenure of his role because it is very problematic if he is this angry all the time.”
The ABC has faced criticism for its reporting in the past, with recent concerns raised over its minimal coverage of Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe’s verbal clash with men outside a strip club in Melbourne.
The broadcaster’s improved pay will be spread across three years and will be backdated to the beginning of October in 2022.
The agreement now awaits approval from the Fair Work Commission, according to an email seen by MEAA union members.
The development comes after tensions rose to a head in February when disputes could not be resolved between the union, ABC management and human resources.
Staff were left threatening to strike, but failed to go through and cancelled the planned industrial actions.