Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger has volunteered to take a 10 per cent pay cut which will take his salary this year, excluding pension benefits, to £360,000.
Meanwhile, Guardian Media Group chief executive Carolyn McCall has said she will not take a bonus for the current financial year – which is due to end in March, The Guardian reports.
Though, in the midst of a dire media recession it would be surprising if she was set to be paid one anyway.
In February, GMG announced a pay freeze across all its staff – and revealed that bonuses based on financial performance would not be paid for the 2009/2010 financial year.
Since then GMG has announced dramatic job cuts in its regional newspaper division – with more than 100 journalists being axed. This has led to dischord among national newspaper journalists about the way their regional press colleagues are being treated.
Dan Sabbagh suggests in The Times today that even with GMG’s healthy cash reserves, the losses at The Guardian and Observer may be unsustainable.
He writes: “…there is talk, sotto voce, of planned efficiencies at The Guardian and The Observer, which could provoke some fun with the unions.”
Rusbridger is believed to be one of the best paid national newspaper editors – a reflection of the fact that he also sits on the GMG board.
In 2005 he received a £150,000 bonus in recognition of his work taking the paper into a Berliner-size relaunch.
Paul Dacre remains the best paid national newspaper editor by some margin – in 2008 the package for the Associated Newspapers editor in chief rose to £1.621m.
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