According to The Sydney Morning Herald, who have spoken to someone they identify only as a “senior network insider”, there was a comprehensive deal offered to Lisa Wilkinson that was supposed to make her stay with Channel Nine.
It would appear, it didn’t.
On Monday night, Wilkinson announced on Twitter that she had resigned from the Today Show which she co-hosted alongside Karl Stefanovic for a decade. The statement she shared read, “Nine today confirmed we have been unable to meet the expectations of Lisa Wilkinson and her manager on a contract renewal”.
I have some news. I’m sad to say that today was my last day on @the today show. The following statement is from Channel Nine… pic.twitter.com/B3IVDAfkSm
— Lisa Wilkinson (@Lisa_Wilkinson) October 16, 2017
It has been widely speculated that Wilkinson, one of the most experienced and well-known journalists in the country, was being paid approximately half that of the man sitting next to her.
That sounds… well, that sounds a little bit like the gender pay gap.
But The Sydney Morning Herald’s Andrew Hornery tells a very different story.
“For Channel Nine chief executive officer Hugh Marks,” Hornery begins, “it was an obvious choice: meet one of his biggest paid star’s demands and cut 10 jobs or risk losing the star to another network.”
It appears what we have here is not a champion for gender equality, after all. But rather – as Hornery would have us believe – a… well a diva.
In asking for a pay rise, Wilkinson was really asking for Hughes to sack 10 people. How awfully shameful. But also how greedy.

Top Comments
the difference between her and karl is she was just doing studio work on today as far as on air tv goes while karl did studio and in the field with disasters/ terrorist incidents around the world with today as well as a prime time show and regular 60 mins work. im all for equal pay but she did a lot less than him so shouldve been paid less
How would you know how those extra duties are assigned and paid. I'm sure Lisa would have liked those opportunities too but....sexism.
more work of course equals more pay especially when ones a prime time show and the other is as a reporter for 60 mins which he has been doing for a while. whether he got those roles by jobs for the boys, as it is with 7 & 9, is another issue, she was still paid less for doing less. its certain sectors of media that have tried to turn this into a pay gap issue when its not.
Even more of a reason to walk. And that journo should be ashamed, it just perpetuating the “boys club” further. What a brilliant article!