Speaking of newspapers

I've been seeing a lot more of this lately...

(A guy on a CTA bus reading the New York Times)

Could the New York Times actually benefit from the Internet news era? It seems like while a lot of newspapers are struggling to say afloat, the Times is actually gaining readers exponentially. 

Before the internet, it had never crossed my mind to pick up a hardcopy of the New York Times, but now that it's just as accessible online as the Chicago Tribune, I find myself reading it just as much (if not more.)

How many people like me in other cities read the online editions of their favorite local paper plus the New York Times?

There has to be some financial benefit from picking up all of those extra readers, right?

also,

I read this a while ago and still find it to be a bit troubling:

"Katie Couric’s annual salary is more than the entire annual budgets of NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered combined. Couric’s salary comes to an estimated $15 million a year; NPR spends $6 million a year on its morning show and $5 million on its afternoon one." (source) 

(And no, I did not just happen to come upon that article while paging through my copy of the Columbia Journalism Review, I first read it on Cindy's best friend's facebook status and then decided to look into it)

(And yes, I wonder if I should be just as troubled by that)