How much does an editor earn? $56,000 a month
In the ultimate staffing nightmare, a daily newspaper has had the salary of every one of its 270 editorial staff leaked onto the Internet.
So if you’ve ever wondered what an editor actually earns, the answer is a basic annual salary of $670,000.
The newspaper in question is The National, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, and edited by Martin Newland, the former editor of the Daily Telegraph in the UK and previously a member of the founding team on Conrad Black’s Canadian paper The Nattional Post. The paper’s founding team also included several Australian journalists.
Last night the salary list for the entire editorial team appeared on the wikileaks website – which provides a forum for information to be placed anonymously in the public domain. According to the site, it was placed there because “it shows the discrimination in pay at the government-owned, National newspaper in Abu Dhabi where there is heavy media censorship.”
As an Australian editor, let alone a journo, I’m jealous of that salary, but that’s mainly because I work for the Devil.
Right. That’s it. I’m off…
رأيت أنت فيما بعد
James
Do they need a coffee runner???
Owch! That hurt!
How about two coffee runners???? They have a big team 🙂
Ha….. The sand is never greener guys !!!! Me thinks someone is going to get their hand cut off.
Kalas !!!
Wow Warlach – you work for the Devil himself??
I’m a journo and I did once too, but not anymore.
My advice? Don’t work for the devil – it’s never worth it because they take your soul.
That’s inaccurate. The figures include housing, which is very standard for this region (as rents are London-level astronomical, and usually make up for the lack of tax).
Also, the lowest paid member makes far less than that. See the document yourself.
NA, what is inaccurate? The National was giving accomodation to employees for 1 year in a hotel.
Everything in the Middle East revolves around a couple of big egos with zillion dollar pocket money. The National owned by Abu Dhabi Government needs to prove Abu Dhabi is better than it’s PR cousin, Dubai. The Sheikhs would rather spend a million dirhams to prove people wrong than admit they are wrong.
Coming to your point, a decent three bedroom apartment in Abu Dhabi would have cost you approximate AU$ 45,000 annual per year. That’s not very far from London prices anyway …
About 60 employees received partially subsidized hotel rooms for up to a year because the paper had problems finding acceptable housing within a reasonable budget. After a year of living in absolute shit hotel-apartments (see: cockroach infested Ramee-style rooms where there were frequent reports of harassment, blood-stained bedding and labourers breaking into rooms to cook) the company then said: “Sorry, deal fell through. Find your own place.”
My two-bedroom in AD which I got a year ago is about Dh120,000 per year (AUD$50,900). That apartment would now probably cost between 150-200,000 depending on your ethnicity and how scrupulous your agent is. Your estimation about a decent 3-bedroom in this city is laughable.
And no, I am not on the higher end of the newspaper’s payscale. Yes, I am making more than I would back home, but that’s because I’m being compensated for the lack of amenities and other opportunities in this country. Not to mention the considerable cost of moving here in the first place. Compare our wages to those of other university-degree professions in the Gulf and you would be far more shocked.
AS for the ego-sheikh dynamic, I will neither agree nor disagree as it would earn me a one-way trip into the desert.
I’ve lived in Abu Dhabi & also was in Kuwait for 11 years, so I don’t think I can be laughed at. I estimated on the lower side on a very broad area from Musafa to Corniche. I’ve not been in Abu Dhabi for 2 years so don’t know the current rents.
Kuwait is better anyday because the price you are paying in AD would get you a 4 bedroom villa with a swimming pool & decent neighbours than the first/second most populated nationalities in Kuwait.
You are NA, why worry about the Sheikhs?
“indiancurry” more has happened in Abey Dhabey in the last 2 years than in the 2000 years prior. I now squat in Dubai and commute….its cheaper and and i ve found VB on tap!
Warlach, Newsgirl – I feel your pain.
Judging by the bitterness of your comments, I’m pretty sure we ALL once worked for the same devil.
$56k per month – noice!
Pay for Aussie journos is an absolute joke – that’s why I, and nearly every one of my peers who who joined the profession at the same time, have since left for the cold, hard world of spin. Cynical and soul-destroying, sure – but at least I can comfortably pay my mortgage and have a life.