The San Francisco Bay Guardian reports that the former editor-in-chief of the rival New Times chain, Dan Forst, pulled down $324,567 a year while most of his reporters made between $40,000 and $50,000 a year. The Guardian’s Tim Redmond attributed the information to documents obtained from a source close to the Village Voice, which acquired New Times. New Times owned the SF Weekly and East Bay Express, which are now part of the Village Voice chain of 23 alternative weeklies. The Guardian is suing New Times and now Village Voice, alleging that the chain’s two Bay Area papers sold ads at below cost in order to drive the Guardian out of business. Redmond also reports that in New York, the new owner of the Village Voice, Mike Lacey, told reporters that the paper was too soft because it was full of commentary and criticism of the Bush administration, and from now on he wanted more hard news and long-form human interest stories.