• We love you guys, but we need a break. We’ve been posting on ShortFormBlog for over a year straight. The last day we missed was Feb. 2, 2009. And well, we have a good flow. But for purposes of our own mental health, we’re taking a break starting tonight, lasting until tomorrow, likely to be broken Sunday morning (something about a health care vote) and unbroken until Monday. We love you guys, but we think our posting quality will go up after a day or two off. (thanks Columbusneon for the image) source
• Edit: We plan on posting today (Sunday, March 21) about nothing BUT health care. Everything else (including Ben Folds doing Chatroulette, which is hilarious) is off-limits today.

• good New research suggests a protein, GM-CSF, controls lung damage from smoking and can be turned off with the use of a pill.
• bad The effects (for now) have only been tested short-term. Also, there’s still no cure for cancer, so it’s not a perfect solution. source

• two number of women stung in the freak incident
• 100 number of stings each had; they were covered head to toe source

• Actually, she’s joining it at the end of April. The longtime CNN anchor, famous for her international coverage, will helm “This Week,” replacing George Stephanopoulos. It’s a bit of a change, but just look at the comments on this CNN post. Amanpour is universally loved and probably won’t damage the “This Week” brand. CNN, on the other hand, is looking like a rickety old ship that just lost its first mate. source

• “What if you drew arrows from here to theocracy?” Oh man, Jon Stewart was in fine form last night, pulling out that Glenn Beck impression of his and making it even better than it was before. Beck is still crazy but occasionally says sensical things these days. This clip is 13 minutes, but it’s the best 13 minutes you’ll spend all day. source

• Were the job cuts needed? After a report came out yesterday on the unofficial Gannett Blog noting the executive pay of the company’s chief executives, there’s definitely some deserved anger due to the number of layoffs that the newspaper company had. Truth is, though, their salaries, while high, are only a dent in a much larger pie, and from one perspective, they did their jobs well.

Executive salaries vs. 2009 job cuts

• 6,000 number of jobs that were lost throughout the company in 2009 through cuts and layoffs; many workers were also furloughed
• $4.7M the amount Gannett’s chairman and CEO, Craig Dubow, made in 2009, up $1.6 million from 2008 (including a $1.5 million bonus)
• $4M the amount president and COO (and former CFO) Gracia Martore made in 2009, up $2.6 million from 2008 (with a $950,000 bonus)

Would lower executive pay help? Not really

• $240M the amount the laid-off workers’ collective salaries would be if they were each paid $40,000 per year, around average for journalists (though some are paid higher)
• $700 the amount each laid-off worker would get if that $4.2 million difference between 2008 and 2009 executive pay was spread out evenly amongst them

Where the cuts helped most: Stock prices

• 907% the increase in stock price since 2009

Uncomfortable reality

• » The business consideration: Truth of the matter is, from an investing and financial perspective, Craig Dubow and Gracia Martore look very smart for cutting off some of the dead wood, even if it screwed over thousands of journalists as a result.
• » The real problem? Same as many other newspaper conglomerates: Gannett’s simply too big. It holds jurisdiction over many markets large and small, and as a result of heavy debt burdens from the financial crisis, it and companies like it, including McClatchy and Tribune, have had to make some tough decisions to protect the whole beast. Seems like all these mergers and buyouts had the effect of damaging local newspapers and local journalism. Financial sense and editorial sense are two different senses. source