Know Your Value

[YankeeFan]

Mika Brzezinski has a new book out, and while it's geared to women, it offers lessons that everyone could use.

The most interesting nugget so far is that Joe made 14 times what she did originally.

How's that possible? $100,000 vs. $1,400,000?

After months of hard work, "Morning Joe" was becoming the place for candidates to be seen and heard. The buzz was growing, our ratings were improving, and the show was making news. We should have been ecstatic. Instead Joe sat silently and listened as I explained why I needed to resign.

It was a painful decision. But after nearly twenty years of scrambling up, down, and back up the television-news ladder several times over, I was done. I was demoralized—and not because I didn’t like my job. In fact, I loved it. No other show I’d ever worked on had such energy and so much excitement. But as I explained to Joe on that sad, cold winter morning, I could no longer work for a network that refused to recognize my value. It may have taken me forty years, but I’d finally realized it was time to do things right or not at all.

Despite my professional experience, the fifteen-hour workdays, and a successful new show that I had helped build, MSNBC was still refusing to pay me what I was worth. Not only was my salary lower than my colleagues’, each month was a financial scramble to make ends meet. After child care, on-air wardrobe, makeup, travel, and the other ridiculous expenses that women in this business end up taking on, the job was actually costing me more than I was being paid. Checks were bouncing, and worse, I could barely face myself in the mirror when I thought of the example I was setting for my twelve- and fourteen-year-old daughters. Every morning I sat with a group of male colleagues, all of whom made much more than I did. In fact, our salaries weren’t even close.

Let me be clear: there is no question that Joe was worth more to the show’s success than anyone. But was he really fourteen times more valuable than me?

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42868382/ns/today-books/

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Mika Brzezinski has a new book out, and while it's geared to women, it offers lessons that everyone could use.

The most interesting nugget so far is that Joe made 14 times what she did originally.

How's that possible? $100,000 vs. $1,400,000?

After months of hard work, "Morning Joe" was becoming the place for candidates to be seen and heard. The buzz was growing, our ratings were improving, and the show was making news. We should have been ecstatic. Instead Joe sat silently and listened as I explained why I needed to resign.

It was a painful decision. But after nearly twenty years of scrambling up, down, and back up the television-news ladder several times over, I was done. I was demoralized—and not because I didn’t like my job. In fact, I loved it. No other show I’d ever worked on had such energy and so much excitement. But as I explained to Joe on that sad, cold winter morning, I could no longer work for a network that refused to recognize my value. It may have taken me forty years, but I’d finally realized it was time to do things right or not at all.

Despite my professional experience, the fifteen-hour workdays, and a successful new show that I had helped build, MSNBC was still refusing to pay me what I was worth. Not only was my salary lower than my colleagues’, each month was a financial scramble to make ends meet. After child care, on-air wardrobe, makeup, travel, and the other ridiculous expenses that women in this business end up taking on, the job was actually costing me more than I was being paid. Checks were bouncing, and worse, I could barely face myself in the mirror when I thought of the example I was setting for my twelve- and fourteen-year-old daughters. Every morning I sat with a group of male colleagues, all of whom made much more than I did. In fact, our salaries weren’t even close.

Let me be clear: there is no question that Joe was worth more to the show’s success than anyone. But was he really fourteen times more valuable than me?

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42868382/ns/today-books/

Dumbfounded, though perhaps not the best example . . . Mike's value to that show was and remains broadly debatable.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Two thoughts:

(A) If the show is "Morning Joe," then yes, Joe is worth many times more than Mika. It ain't "Morning Mika."

(B) If Mika Brzezinski was really scrambling to make ends meet and was bouncing checks, that speaks very, very poorly of her, not MSNBC. She wasn't exactly making minimum wage.

 

[Buck]

Two things can be equally true.
She might be underpaid. I don't know what she makes or what her coworkers make, and I've never seen the show.
She probably makes enough that people don't sympathize with her not making ends meet.

Why would she be paying her own travel expenses for work?

 

[Rockbottom]

Mine? Currently $1.38 a pound. But I am trending upward slightly.

rb

 

[RickStain]

If she was making $100k, expected to live in a high-COL city and really paying for her own travel, makeup and wardrobe for the show, then I can buy having trouble making ends meet. That's just a weird situation, though.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

Doesn't sound like the salary gap is a dealbreaker for her, though: Mediabistro and other outlets are reporting that CBS wants both to jump ship when their contracts expire in the next year.

From that story, apparently the gap isn't what it used to be:

When this show started Joe was making 14 times more than me,” she said, adding that “At one point I was going to leave.”

She also said “I took a couple of different ways in terms of getting a raise this time around,” implying that she too signed a contract extension recently.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

The show is better without her.

 

[YankeeFan]

The show is better without her.

LOL. I knew you'd say that.

She can be really annoying.

And in the segment I saw them do on it and in the article I posted to, she doesn't really come across that well.

But, overall, it's still a good point that you need to know your value & maximize your earnings.

 

[secretariat]

I haven't watched that show in years. I'm up that early, but I'm usually watching Super Why, Dinosaur Train and Sesame Street with my son.

 

[YGBFKM]

Does he get pissed you hog the programming?

 

[secretariat]

Welcome to your future. Unless he or she latches on to Dora and Diego. Then God help you.

 

[MileHigh]

Sounds like she needed a better agent before she signed the contract.

 

[YankeeFan]

Sounds like she needed a better agent before she signed the contract.

She had been fired by CBS and was doing freelance for MSNBC when she got hired according to what she said this morning.

So, it's not like she had a lot of leverage.

They could have paired just about anyone with Joe at that point.

Plus, if I recall, they tried out a number of shows/hosts in that time slot after the whole Imus episode, so there was probably no guarantee that there would even be a ling term show when she signed up.

Scarborough had been hosting Scarborough Country in prime time for MSNBC, so he likely already had a contract in place that paid him well.

 

[Brad Guire]

Well, after applying to a dozen positions in the last month and getting zero interviews, I'd say my value is ****.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Heck, according to this article, I'm richer than I realize because of my "Human Capital"

http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retirement/article/112608/human-capital-net-worth?mod=fidelity-changingjobs&cat=fidelity_2010_changing_jobs

If's that's the case, then how come none of the publishers at the small papers I worked for in my 20s realized how valuable I was and kick in an extra few thousand bucks a year?

 

[DanOregon]

I do think one of the dirty secrets of TV is that people aren't paid half as much as people think they make. You hear about the big contracts because agents are looking for more clients.
And it also explains why the women on Fox can't afford longer skirts.

 

[TrooperBari]

Welcome to your future. Unless he or she latches on to Dora and Diego. Then God help you.

Dora and Diego are Old and Broken. Ni Hao Kai-lan is what all the cool kids are watching.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

I do think one of the dirty secrets of TV is that people aren't paid half as much as people think they make. You hear about the big contracts because agents are looking for more clients.
And it also explains why the women on Fox can't afford longer skirts.

Which is perfectly logical, from the perspective of a TV watcher and not an industry insider. You see "famous person on TV" and you think "bank," especially with the big-money contracts you've mentioned. But while the local TV people probably get perks from advertisers (laser eye surgery and weight loss programs come to mind), they're not nearly as well-off as their wardrobe would indicate.

 

[YankeeFan]

Well, part of "knowing your value" is being realistic about what the value you bring to the table is.

Some of the hosts on FOX are undeniably beautiful, put they're also pretty interchangeable. One hot chick reading the news is the same as another hot chick reading the news.

If you have built an audience with personal loyalty to you, or have proven yourself as a true reporter, that brings a lot more value.