Imagine a TV newsroom where the top anchor makes the same pay as the lowest production assistant. It would take about :30 seconds for your top people to quit for better money elsewhere. That's the reality we are facing at TV Maldives. The pay scale is set by the government and because everyone in the newsroom is classified as a newscaster they all make roughly the same pay. The maximum is under $700 a month! There are some small allowances for anchoring or working weekends and a clothing allowance of only about $15 a month.
We will not be able to adjust the pay scale to fit the new anchor, reporter and producer job descriptions until the broadcasting bill is passed by Parliament. It will create a public broadcasting corporation board to run TVM and VOM as public service stations, think of NPR and PBS without pledge drives.
With private broadcasters getting ready to go on the air we face the possibility of losing our top people. A few made the switch before we got here. After all, these are the only Dhiveli-speaking TV news people in the world, so who else can the private channels hire? Worse yet, there is no incentive for the younger people to work hard and move up because the pay is the same but the work is much harder. Remember that 12 hour days and and six-day weeks are the norm here. Radio also has a talent drain because of private stations that recently went on the air.
Here's hoping that the broadcasting bill will pass SOON. But it is only one of 87 legal reform bills in the hopper when the legislature convenes this Thursday.
We will not be able to adjust the pay scale to fit the new anchor, reporter and producer job descriptions until the broadcasting bill is passed by Parliament. It will create a public broadcasting corporation board to run TVM and VOM as public service stations, think of NPR and PBS without pledge drives.
With private broadcasters getting ready to go on the air we face the possibility of losing our top people. A few made the switch before we got here. After all, these are the only Dhiveli-speaking TV news people in the world, so who else can the private channels hire? Worse yet, there is no incentive for the younger people to work hard and move up because the pay is the same but the work is much harder. Remember that 12 hour days and and six-day weeks are the norm here. Radio also has a talent drain because of private stations that recently went on the air.
Here's hoping that the broadcasting bill will pass SOON. But it is only one of 87 legal reform bills in the hopper when the legislature convenes this Thursday.
Pictured are both sides of the 100 rufiyaa note. It's about $8 US.
Update: according to reliable sources, here is how the pay for a "newscaster" breaks down.
Base monthly pay (in rufiyaa) 3,780
Max overtime 1,701
Risk allowance 750
Task force allowance 580
Clothing allowance 150
weekend differential 1314
telephone allowance (senior manager only) 300
Again, this is basically the same for everyone in the newsroom, from the anchors who seem to do most of the work to the new kids who sit at "desks" and produce little content.
This pay doesn't go far in Male, where a two room apartment rents for 8,000 a month. No wonder that people with families to support leave broadcasting or join the private stations at double or triple the pay.
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