Daily Herald problems in Chicago -- but head honchos are sharing the pain

http://poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=13262

For those who don't care to read the full memo, sounds like Daily Herald in Chicago is doing the usual things to save newsprint and money (space cuts, bla bla bla)... but the Paddock CEOs and board are also foregoing their salary increases for this year and taking a five percent pay cut.

Hey, I know it's probably peanuts, but it's refreshing in this era of staff cutbacks and consolidation while CEO lives in a $10 million home.

 

So that furlough plan means that people will be required to take one unpaid day off in each quarter to save the company money?

Hell, I'd take a three-day weekend once a month (extra day off unpaid) if I thought it actually would save some jobs from our newsroom. But I sense that wouldn't satisfy the suits for long.

 

Except that day off will probably always be a Tuesday or Thursday.

 

I figured their problem was employing Mike Imrem to write sports columns.

 

And it probably really wouldn't be a day off.

 

Someone might actually end up working that day anyway, for free? If that's the case, Daily Herald ought to declare three or four "furlough days" per quarter. That would be shrewd management.