Ted Kennedy Writes a Letter To Pinch on How to Run His Business

The New York Post reports:

Shares have lost 15 percent of their value this year as pressure mounted on chief Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger to plug a drain of newspaper ad dollars being steadily siphoned away by the Internet.

Third-quarter profit dropped to $14 million, or 10 cents a share, from $23.1 million, or 16 cents a share a year earlier. Sales fell 2.4 percent to $739.6 million.

The profits bomb came as Sulzberger got scolded yesterday by a group of prominent politicians and business leaders in Boston, led by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), claiming Sulzberger and his team have committed a "terrible shame" by gutting the paper since acquiring it in 1993.

In a letter to Sulzberger, Kennedy and others said "a troubling pattern of disinvestment, downsizing, outsourcing and cost cutting has emerged" to damage the fabled paper.

"A shrinking news hole and the elimination of bureaus have stung the morale of employees facing in creased health care costs and wage freezes."

Since when it is the domain of a U.S. Senator to tell a newspaper how to run a business? I guess when you are Ted Kennedy you think the government has no limits.