THE HIGH COST OF TALK

By From Barbara Miller, Carol\f7 Baker and Charles Johnson, \o7 P.S.: On the Rather scale, that would mean that this Outtake is worth $1, 710.54. Please remit a check to . . . and \f7

March 8, 1987 12 AM PT

Given all the budget slashings at the networks and given the salaries that are paid the anchor people, well, we figured that we could help.

Here’s how we figured: Anchor salaries reportedly run $3 million a year for Dan Rather on CBS, $1.5 million for Tom Brokaw at NBC and $800,000 for Peter Jennings on ABC.

On Monday, Feb. 16, we taped the evening newses and figured that Rather needed 855 words to give his version of the day’s events; Brokaw used 700 words; Jennings 850.

We projected across a year’s salary and computed that Rather gets $14.62 per word, Brokaw $8.93 and Jennings $3.92.

At the next bottom-line meeting, the network accountants might dictate brevity.