The Ahwatukee Foothills News is asking its readers to spare what they can to help keep the tiny paper afloat in the Internet age.
One problem -- its parent company, Freedom Communications, just pulled the plug on one of its other Valley newspapers after declaring bankruptcy but still had the gaul to hand out hefty bonuses to its top execs.
Our friends at Heat City alerted us to the fact that AFN ran a full page ad last week enlisting people to give donations to the struggling paper, just days after its sister paper, the East Valley Tribune, announced it will be closing its doors for good on December 31.
An Internet version of the ad can be seen here.
"We too have done more with less!" AFN publisher Renie Scibona wrote in the letter to readers. "Your loyalty and voluntary contribution will help us continue to bring you one of Arizona's best community newspapers for years to come."
In the first eight months of 2009, as the company was sliding further and further into failure, Freedom dished out about $2.6 million in bonuses to top execs. Try hittin' some of them up for those "voluntary contributions."
