Paulson got $443K in Freedom Forum pay in 2009; new tax documents also show Prichard got $265K

Freedom Forum paid former USA Today Editor Ken Paulson $443,185 in 2009, his first year as the No. 2 executive of the non-profit journalism foundation and its signature project, the financially hobbled Newseum, according to newly released public documents.

Paulson

Paulson's pay, which included a $93,270 contribution to his employee benefit plan, and a $70,055 expense account, came during a year when the Washington, D.C., museum about news eliminated 13% of its jobs amid a fundraising shortfall. Paulson, with little explanation, quit the job three months ago.

The documents also show that Paulson's predecessor, Peter Prichard, got paid $265,084 during the year. When Prichard stepped down as president and chief operating officer at the start of 2009, the foundation said he would spend the next 12 months working on unspecified special projects, and then retire.

A sudden shakeup
Paulson, USAT's top editor at the time, was named president and COO of the high-profile foundation and museum in December 2008, making him heir-apparent to current CEO Charles Overby, and to the mantle of its legendary founder, Al Neuharth. His tenure was unexpectedly cut short, however.

In mid-August, Paulson left his Freedom Forum and Newseum post during a management shake-up, and was not replaced. It appears the position was eliminated, perhaps as a cost-saving measure. He is now chief executive of the First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tenn., which is a Freedom Forum project.

Prichard

Paulson's 2009 compensation was substantially less than what Prichard made during his last year as president and COO. He was paid $665,927 in 2008. However, that included a one-time $225,000 bonus -- one of several such 2008 special bonuses paid to top officers in connection with the Newseum's construction.

The compensation amounts were disclosed in the annual 2009 tax reports filed with the IRS by the foundation and the museum, and dated Oct. 29. The Newseum gave me copies of these Forms 990 yesterday after I requested them under federal open-records law. Until now, Paulson's first year's pay had not been made public. Pay figures for 2010 won't be reported until sometime next year.

Haven for ex-GCI execs
Freedom Forum, which shares space with the Newseum, is one of the largest charitable foundations devoted to journalism. Neuharth, the retired Gannett chairman and CEO, launched the foundation in 1991, with $650 million in seed capital from GCI shareholders. The money comprised the corpus of the original Gannett Foundation. Over the years, Freedom Forum and the Newseum have hired a number of former GCI executives for senior positions. For example, Prichard, like Paulson, also was once USAT's top editor.

Yet, the two editors left USAT at starkly different times: Paulson's exit came as the top daily was retrenching; cutbacks over the past three years have now eliminated 25% of newsroom jobs alone.

The Freedom Forum foundation initially supported a variety of journalism causes worldwide. But over the past decade, it began devoting more of its resources to the Newseum, which in its early years was run in smaller quarters in nearby Arlington, Va. It relocated to its much larger, 250,000 square-foot D.C. home in April 2008 -- three years later than planned, and $200 million over its initial $250 million construction budget.

Since relocating, the museum has undergone two rounds of job cutbacks. By the end of 2009, Paulson's first year, the staff had been reduced to about 180 positions from 250 in spring 2008, according to The Washington Post.

Related: Download free copies of the 2009 tax reports. Here's Freedom Forum's. And here's the Newseum's.

Earlier: As Freedom Forum stumbles on big Newseum bet, documents reveal spending often veered far afield

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.