Kerre Woodham: Stop punching Judy

Frankly, it couldn't have happened to a nicer person. If someone had to win first division in employment Lotto, I'm glad it was Judy Bailey.

I don't know her well but I like what I've seen of her, and I admire and respect her on-screen ability. I've heard plenty of people scoffing that she all has to do is sit still, look nice and read the words that other people have written, but there is a skill involved in broadcasting the news well. You have to trust the messenger.

The news has to be seen and heard as authentic and reliable, and if you doubt that there is an art to the job just hark back to those occasions when one or the other of the news channels brings in a third rate reader to cover for the professionals.

The wannabes stumble through sentences with subordinate clauses and painstakingly claw their way over three-syllable words before collapsing with relief onto a preposition, and drive viewers away with irritating upwards inflections. How can you trust someone you want to throttle?

So let's agree that Judy Bailey is very good at what she does. The management at TVNZ, however, appear to be less capable at their jobs. Firstly, if Paul Holmes is to be believed, there is real uncertainty for key personnel as a result of the introduction of year-long contracts. How on earth can you plan for the future when you can only project as far as 12 months?

Holmes also says managers had been tardy in finalising contract negotiations, and that meant presenters were there to be poached. When both Holmes and Alison Mau left, it looks like the management panicked. And yet they had little reason too. Both TV3 and Prime have said they were not interested in hiring Bailey - her persona is too allied to the state broadcaster for them to be interested.

Perhaps Judy threatened to quit. Whatever the reason for her demand to be shown the money, her exorbitant pay rise appears to be the consequence of an employer who had no plan B.

Contrast TVNZ's position with that of TV3. When it was announced that John Campbell and Carol Hirschfeld were leaving their newsreading roles to set up a new current affairs show, TV3 had two competent presenters waiting in the wings. Hilary Barry and Mike McRoberts will be able to slide into the seats vacated by Campbell and Hirschfeld without missing a beat. And no doubt for nowhere near the sum being paid to the newsreader across town.

Judy Bailey has many supporters. There are some who just love her and won't hear a word against her, and believe she has a right to that salary simply because her diction is perfect and she doesn't rest her elbows on the table.

There are others who believe that it's high time New Zealanders got over their egalitarian tendencies and celebrated those who have the cojones (metaphorical in this case) to demand, and get, big biccies. These are also the people who feel Judy earns her money because she brings in the advertisers and, because advertisers pay around $15,000 for a 30-second spot during the news, pay her wages a thousand times over during the course of the advertising year.

I don't go along with Judy being responsible for bringing in the bucks. Certainly she plays a part, but most of us watch the news for the content. It's the quality of the news service that draws in the viewers, and in their wake, the advertisers. If the news consisted of breathless reports of Nicky Watson's latest love affair and salacious accounts of politician's peccadilloes, I wouldn't be watching, Judy or no Judy.

So perhaps it would be only fair for the newsroom staff to share in all the lovely loot. Or is that too egalitarian for free-marketeers to stomach? Still, Judy is the one that asked and Judy is the one that got. And more power to her.

Her professionalism has been evident all of last week. As the storm of controversy has raged around her, Judy has been unbent and unbowed. She read stories of the fall-out from her pay rise with the cool detachment of someone reading a story about a broadcaster from Uzbekistan caught up in circumstances beyond their control.

She was composed, cool and credible - and worth every cent she's being paid. Whether the board of directors are worth the salaries they're being paid is quite another matter.