You said that the newsroom budget "has just been trimmed by 5 percent."

Mr. Calder said his newsroom budget is $16 million a year, but he would not discuss how it is spent.

The publisher, R. David Threshie, nearly tripled the news staff to 336, increased the newsroom budget fivefold and began aggressive circulation drives.

Mr. Zuckerman said he has increased the newsroom budget by 50 percent since 1993.

The newsroom budget of two hundred million dollars was reduced by ten per cent, Geddes says.

Bradley doubled the newsroom budget of The Atlantic, allowing the magazine to embark on a hiring spree, offering contracts to 25 new writers.

Mr. Squires and current news executives say that one way corporate executives have tried to keep profits up has been to slash newsroom budgets.

A weak economy that has trimmed newsroom budgets and withered revenues has also cut into resources for research and story development.

Perhaps it sometimes does, but the argument over newsroom budgets usually confuses journalistic responsibility with network competition.

One of his early actions after he became the owner on Feb. 14 was a demand for substantial savings from the newsroom budget, including layoffs.