A Little Bit of AIG in Our Industry 

If newspapers are having financial troubles, you wouldn't know it by looking at its executives' salaries.

The Gannett newspaper chain laid off 7,000 people in 2008, and has instituted week-long furloughs for most workers for 2009. Yet CEO Craig A. Dubow got $3,135,469 in pay and bonuses. At the McClatchy chain, 1,600 got pink slips while Gary Pruitt got $2,767,306. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel cut 10 percent of its staff last year, while CEO Steven J. Smith took home $1,445,957. Why should workers – the people who create the paper every day – be shed to bolster the bloated profit margins of yesterday?

Readers rely on their paper for local reporting. No one buys the paper because they enjoy the CEO’s work.