Can media earnings justify CEO pay?

After a blockbuster week of economic data release, including a better-than-expected April jobs report, things cool down this week, with the key event being Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech on Friday.

Bernanke will speak at a banking conference in Chicago, and is expected to address concerns that the Fed’s easy-money policies, aimed at stimulating the economy, are causing excessive risk-taking in the stock market.

“If observed, raising short-term interest rates would be one way to counter this phenomenon. However, the Fed could also try to reduce it through regulatory supervision,” Raymond James economist Scott Brown wrote in a report.

Also on tap this week is more corporate financial report releases, as the first-quarter earnings season draws to a close. A slew of high-profile media firms will report results this week, including News Corp., Disney, AOL and Dish Network.

Reports from these companies are under extra scrutiny after a New York Times report on Sunday found that media moguls made up seven of the top 20 highest-paid U.S. CEOs in 2012. They included Disney’s Robert Iger, whose compensation was worth $37.1 million, and News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch, who earned $22.4 million.

In contrast, Jamie Dimon and James Gorman, head honchos of Wall Street firms JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, “only” took home $11.5 million and $9.75 million each. Shareholders from these media companies will expect robust earnings reports to justify the earnings of Iger, Murdoch and their compatriots.