Tampa Bay Times, Poynter executives make bank despite continued layoffs

Even as the paper laid off staff to cut expenses, top executives at the Tampa Bay Times and its parent company, the Poynter Institute, received significant raises in 2023, according to Form 990s filed for 2022 and 2023.

In 2023, Times CEO Conan Gallaty earned $409,602 in compensation, an increase of more than $51,000 from his 2022 earnings. That represents a raise of about 14% and nearly $1,000 per week.

And Gallaty wasn’t the only executive to get a pay bump. Neil Brown, Poynter Institute President, earned $331,386 in 2023, up more than $26,000 from 2022, a raise of about 9%.

Poynter Institute faculty member Sitara Nieves saw a salary bump from $160,000 to nearly $196,000, a more than $35,000 increase.

Other notable executives also received pay bumps, though not quite as significant. Poynter Institute Senior Vice President Kelly McBride got a raise of about $10,000, earning nearly $209,000 in 2023, up from more than $197,000 in 2022.

Deborah Read, Chief Development Officer for Poynter, saw her salary jump from nearly $142,000 in 2022 to nearly $169,000 in 2023. Poynter Institute Vice President of Sales and Strategic Partnerships Aaron Sharockman got a $14,000 pay bump, from just over $132,000 to more than $154,000.

It’s not uncommon for high-ranking officials in for- or not-for-profit organizations to receive annual pay increases, but most of the pay hikes far outpaced consumer price increases. From July 2022 to July 2023, consumer prices rose 3.2%.

And it also may be difficult for Times employees who were laid off amid budget cuts to learn that while their jobs were being axed, their bosses were getting raises.

In August — which, in all fairness, was after the executive pay increases and it’s not yet clear whether salaries dropped in 2024 or continued to rise — the Times implemented mass layoffs, cutting about 20% of its workforce, roughly 60 jobs.

The layoffs this year were attributed by the Poynter Institute “chiefly” to “less-than-expected print advertising revenue.” At the time, Gallaty said there would be “product changes” to come, meant to account for the fact “we cannot produce the same volume of work with fewer people.”

Later that month, the Times announced a new partnership with Catalyst Media Group, the parent company of the St. Pete Catalyst, and Cityverse, a sister organization to the Catalyst, to launch the St. Petersburg Beacon. The product is meant to be a hyperlocal product focusing on St. Pete news. It’s rumored to be relying, at least in part, on AI content.

The Times financial woes have been well documented for years. In 2020, the Times reduced its print product distribution from seven days per week to just two, and unpaid furloughs to some staff. That year, the Times laid off about 50 employees.

In 2019, the paper laid off seven journalists — five full-time reporters and two part-timers. They also shed two positions through attrition.

In 2020, the Times implemented temporary worker pay cuts of 10%. Top executives, including Gallaty, Editor Mark Katches and General Manager Joe DeLuca, among others, also took pay cuts.