Anonymous@1:41 p.m. comments: "FYI, the total cost of a publisher at a smaller community paper is nowhere near $250,000 let alone $500,000 a pop. I'd expect that eliminating 40 community publisher spots would save $7-$10 million, not $20m. After taxes, bottom line savings will be $5-7m."Wrong, says Anonymous@2:24 p.m.: "The publisher package is probably close to $300,000 (average) at the community papers; that includes all the perks. It's time to do away with them and save the money."
"$300K publisher?" writes an incredulous-sounding Anonymous@3:31 p.m. "Wrong company, bucko. Even if you add the free pencils they get at a small paper, it's significantly less than that."
Earlier: How much does Gannett pay you?
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Historically the major market stations' GM's earned in the $350,000 range including a vehicle and some other perks. I am not certain if that included bonuses or not. I suspect that figure is a bit high in the current economy.
ReplyDeleteAt one time a GM at a top 10 market earned just shy of $500,000 in the earlier in the decade.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's trivial, but back when I was a beginning reporter, I had grizzled city editor who insisted that we not write that a person "earned" a particular salary. His point was that "earn" implies someone has done something to justify what they are receiving. That, when it comes to a salary is a value judgment, something objective reporters ought not make, he maintained. Thus, we wrote that a person was paid $X or made $x or that their salary was $x. We never could write in a news story that a person earned $x. Call me crazy -- and more than a few folks have -- but based on the publishers I've known through my former career with Gannett, I don't think you should ask what a publisher "earns." The question is: What is a publisher paid? And, the answer, of course,is too much...
73s,
John M. Simpson
Former Deputy Editor
USA Today
These minor market publishers start at less than $200,000 salary. With benies and stock and bonus, probably not $300,000. Maybe $250,000? So general managers make less, say $200,000. So axing the pub saves $$, but not zillions.
ReplyDeleteJMS: Excellent point; I've tweaked the hed.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what our publisher is paid, but I know this to be true because I've seen the delivery with my own two eyes: He gets two-ply paper in his private bathroom.
ReplyDeleteAs a controller at a mid-size daily (I left in 2003), the publisher made just under $20,000 a month. That's $240,000 per year. We normally calculated 36% benefits when we looked at total savings when we got rid of people. So that's another $86,000. Add in the car and the expense report including travel and the total "cost" of a publisher would likely average about $400,000 per year.
ReplyDeleteTwo items to add: Gannett has a fair number of small newspapers (guess is more than half have revenues that are now less than $15 million annually, with many of those far, far less than that) so pay should be comparable to revenues; i.e. far less pay that what’s been shared. And, the phamtom stock which was provided as an additional perk is virtually worthless.
ReplyDeleteThe mid-sized MI paper I was at was a typical organization and the head hocho there was in the 200k range.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that you have to take into account is the rest of the department heads also making 100K each.
Dept. heads in small- to mid-size papers don't all make $100K. I was making mid-80s after 7 years of being a dept head. Others were making closer to $100,000, but only those with long tenure exceeded it.
ReplyDelete"Earning" has a meaning beyond the vernacular where it could seem like a value judgment -- my earnings are what I'm paid in salary etc, independent of any return on investments or income from a business. Granted, we're in the business of cutting through jargon, but it's an accepted term in the business world.
ReplyDeleteIt depends greatly on that pub's experience and length of service. The lowest I've seen though, is $160k base salary for a relatively young one. Some of the group pubs or long time pubs are up around $350-$400k. Annual bonuses until recently I would venture to say average about 10-12% of salary annually. Unless it has changed, pubs at most papers get a $25k auto allowance every four years. If they happen to use that on a $40k car, the remaining $15k gets deducted monthly over 4 years from their checks interest free. They also have a virtually unlimited expense account for lunches & entertaining although I've not seen that one abused that much. Free gas and insurance on the paper for their vehicles. Don't forget about relocating -- one month salary bonus up front, moving expenses completely paid and living expenses at the new location for 30-60 days. Also, if their prior house doesn't sell, GCI buys it. Finally, they are reimbursed most closing costs (except prepaids) when they buy a new house. This is the standard package most department heads get as well. "Publishin is hard" but it pays...
ReplyDeleteDivide the value of their home by one third, and you have their salary.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the difference between a publisher and a GM??
ReplyDelete