Seven head of news and current affairs Peter Meakin earned $1.1 million for the nine months to April 4 this year, when Seven Media was separated from the Seven Network accounts. Last year he received $744,000 for the entire year to June 30.

A couple of years ago his now counterpart at Nine, John Westacott earned just over $1 million as head of 60 Minutes, That gave rise to the term ”a Westie” at Nine: any salary of a million dollars. Does this mean that a “Meakin” is the amount all news directors can aspire to now?

Tim Worner, Seven’s programming head, earned $775,000 and Peter Lewis, the chief financial officer, earned $1.077 million. James Warburton, Seven’s sales boss earned $881,000 up to April 4.

Meanwhile, the bloke who helped drive the Nine network into the ground in 2007, Eddie McGuire, doesn’t seem to have been hurt too much financially. McGuire, earned $4.205 million in 2007 compared to $4.702 million in 2006.

McGuire’s former boss, Ian Law has been a big beneficiary of all the changes at PBL. He earned $3.9 million for the year compared to when he joined PBL as head of ACP Magazines in May 2006, he was paid just $1.35 million a year.

And Eddie’s manager and mate, Jeff ”Buckets” Browne earned $1.7912 million in 2007, including a base salary of $1.690 million. He has now been sent back to Melbourne to be manager of GTV 9 as well as executive director.

But there is one final example which puts this cornucopia of self aggrandisement and largesse into some perspective.

Woolworths is probably the most successful company we have seen in Australia since 2000. It hasn’t had the help of a boom from China and surging world prices for metals as BHP Billiton has. Woolies, under Roger Corbett and his management team, have had to revamp the company, fight off Coles (which was bigger) and other competitors, handle the retirement of Corbett in the 2007 year, and continue growing.

Which it has done with more than $42 billion in sales, earnings of almost $1.3 billion and a record dividend of 74c a share for the year, plus more to come in the 2008 year. In addition the company employs 180,000 or so people in Australia and New Zealand.

Given that background you’d reckon the new CEO, Michael Luscombe would be earning a motza, certainly more than David Leckie at Seven and John Alexander at PBL. Well Luscomb’s $4.38 million was more than Leckie, but a long way short of what Alexander earned.

You know where the value for money is in that comparison.