Reader looking for some 'top-down sacrifice'

Commenting on my post about USA Today newsroom employees taking buyouts, a reader says it's sad to see talented people leave many departments at Gannett's flagship newspaper -- not just the newsroom.

"In light of the buyouts (newsroom), layoffs (business side), hiring freezes, and tightened caps on raises in 2008," the reader says, "we will all be very interested to see what executive compensation looks like for 2007. It would be a nice surprise to see some top-down sacrifice and leadership, if this management team is capable."

Publishers, TV station managers and other GCI business heads decide what department heads get in bonuses and wages at the local level.

But at the senior corporate level, annual pay for the suits in the Gannett Tower at McLean, Va., is decided by the four-person executive compensation committee on Gannett's board of directors. The committee's members are Marjorie Magner (pictured, inset), Arthur Harper, Duncan McFarland and Karen Hastie Williams. Want to make a suggestion or two? Write to them in care of GCI's investor relations department: gcishare@gannett.com. You'll be glad you did!

[Images: Magner, Forbes magazine; this morning's USA Today, Newseum. The paper's lead story says "some of the nation's most elite -- and expensive -- colleges are developing initiatives aimed at relieving the financial burden for typical American families."]