What’s the Message in Ann Martin’s Millions?

Let’s be honest. If Ann Martin, who’s leaving her KABC anchor desk for one at KCBS, can negotiate a $1-million raise in this economy, I say more power to her. We all should be so lucky (“KCBS Pays Top Dollar for Anchor Martin,” Calendar, May 4).

The trouble is, very few people in her audience are. Economists are telling us that if Southern California isn’t in a recovery, at least it’s in a long-awaited transition.

But caught in the wake are millions of people who are either out of work, under-employed or facing some form of personal financial purgatory.

And when they see Martin next, or watch Golden Anchor No. 2 Paul Moyer, I wonder what they see. Those who aren’t insanely jealous or too strapped to even own a television, might be getting mixed messages. The first is that the anchors are way out of touch with the lives and habits of the people they depend upon. Anchors don’t have to be paupers or peons, but darn few people in Montebello, Compton, Long Beach and Pasadena are pulling down anything in the neighborhood of 1.7 million bucks a year.

The other message is that you can switch media jobs in this town, do the same job you were doing before, even work the same hours, and somehow take home a new paycheck that could choke a stable of horses.

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Many of those people who are losing their jobs in this region are getting pink-slipped in the name of productivity: their companies need to do more with fewer people.

In the TV news business, someone who can pull in big ratings is considered highly productive. By that standard, Martin is very productive. She delivers a big audience to advertisers.

But what does the L.A. audience get in return?

After all, CBS and NBC aren’t widget-makers. Their news operations are in the crucial business of helping to define, explain and translate this world to their viewers.

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So, with new, expensive hires, it seems fair to ask whether this community of news stake-holders ends up with more value. Will KCBS ever employ a full-time reporter in Sacramento, the capital of the eighth-largest economy on the planet? Will Martin and Moyer ever deliver meaningful documentaries, or use the clout that got them incredible contracts to improve TV news in this town?

Are they really adept and credible communicators with the fastest-growing population here, Latinos? Have KNBC and KCBS uncovered the secret method of reaching Koreans, Cambodians and African Americans in this town?

Every manager knows that each new hire sends a message. This new hire sends a message. Remind me, what do viewers get out of this?

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