They call that a "pay cut"?

Here's the BizJournal.com story an anonymous commenter mentioned to me today. Interesting, very, very interesting... They call that 'pay cut'? Gees, this Mr. Lowe guy is making more than the entire GDP of some small countries. Sounds like the folks at the top of the E.W. Scripps company are making boatloads of money on the backs of underpaid, underworked, and outsourced E.W. Scripps employee's. The folks at E.W. Scripps must love the fact that folks in Redding are even willing to blog for free on Redding.com while the big guys at the top rake in the cash from on-line advertising.

Here's the whole story from BizJournal.com:

E.W. Scripps Co. CEO Ken Lowe took a 48 percent pay cut in 2007 as the company fell short of its performance goals for the year and took a big charge against earnings for a 2006 acquisition.

Lowe's total compensation of $4.98 million included a $1.1 million base salary and stock-based awards totaling $2.9 million, according to a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Scripps Networks Interactive Inc.

That's the new company that will take control of Scripps' cable and online properties after the Cincinnati-based media conglomerate splits into two publicly traded companies this summer. Lowe has been named CEO of that new company.

Rich Boehne has been announced as the next CEO for E.W. Scripps, which will continue to operate the company's newspaper and broadcasting divisions. Compensation figures for Boehne and other Scripps executives are part of the company's annual proxy statement to shareholders, due out in the next few weeks.

The Scripps Networks filing indicates the company paid a combined $6.8 million to the four highest-paid executives other than Lowe in 2007. Chief Financial Officer Joseph NeCastro is the second highest-paid officer, with stock and cash awards totaling $2.1 million. John Lansing, who runs the company's highly profitable cable channels, brought home $1.8 million in 2007.

Lowe received about $300,000 less in cash-based performance incentives during 2007 and about $2.2 million less for performance-related stock options and restricted shares. In 2006, Lowe received a one-time grant of restricted shares worth $2.45 million as a reward for renewing his employment contract. That grant was not repeated in 2007.

Cincinnati-based Scripps (NYSE: SSP) fell about $64 million short of its $890 million segment profit goal and it achieved less than 95 percent of its earnings per share targets for the year. In addition, the compensation committee exercised "negative discretion" by decreasing incentive awards "to reflect the disappointing business results" that led the company to recognize $410 million in impairment charges related to Scripps' 2006 acquisition of the online shopping service, uSwitch LLC.

Sources: Business Courier of Cincinnati c/o BizJournals.com. BillionairesforBush.com.