TV & VIDEO - March 8, 1989

FCC Commissioner James H. Quello has fired a blast at “exorbitantly paid” television journalists and entertainers who he said carried out an unconscionable campaign against the recent attempt in Congress to raise the pay of high-level federal officials by 51%. Quello, whose $80,700 would have been increased by the pay hike, said it was “the ultimate in unconscionable self-appreciation for TV and cable personalities, news anchors and talk-show hosts, many of whom make 10 to 25 times more than a senator or congressman, to indulge in a Messianic binge against a salary adjustment. . . . Are exorbitantly paid personalities and anchors who utilize government-licensed airwaves to accommodate their perpetual quest for ratings, money and power really performing more valuable service than those that grant and manage communications licenses, pass laws and govern the nation? I think not,” Quello said in a speech for the New York chapter of the Federal Communications Bar Assn. Quello said that killing the proposal, which would have raised congressional salaries to $135,000, did not serve the public interest “because it doomed much-needed reforms on eliminating congressional honoraria, limiting outside income and changing campaign fund laws.”