Colorado Springs Gazette staffers hit with 5 percent pay cut

You may have heard that the newspaper business is going through a difficult patch -- and Freedom Communications, owner of the Colorado Springs Gazette, among other properties, is no exception. Freedom's Orange County Register is reporting the impending implementation of a 5 percent pay cut at the company, which racked up $700 million in debt in 2004 in order to pay off part owners who wanted out of the business -- a business decision that looks pretty smart about now. In a memo revealing the strategy, interim CEO Burl Osborne writes that other options were considered, including furloughs in upcoming quarters as well as "deeper associate reductions in force." But execs eventually decided to take a slice out of everyone's paycheck in the hope that it will "help us deliver on our financial commitments in 2009 and set us up for a stronger 2010."

Read the Osborne memo by clicking here.