Because the two most important things to an editorial cog in the media industry is 1) who is reading you; and 2) how much you are being paid, we shall note that Ben Widdicombe's new editor-at-large gig at Star will earn the ex-Gatecrasher some $125,000 a year. As we understand it, this sum is less than he was earning at the Daily News, but there he was required to file a daily column and party until the wee hours, where at Star he must merely run around town for on-camera gossip reports. (He also plans to attend weekly story meetings at the magazine.) More interesting, though, is that Widdicombe's take home pay is the same as his predecessor Julia Allison, whose one-year deal at the magazine also earned her a reported $125k. That Widdicombe — a veteran gossip columnist who might actually know what he's talking about without researching TMZ.com 10 minutes before taking a live shot — isn't getting a bump in pay from Allison's take must surely be evidence of strict budget restrictions at AMI. It doesn't make it any less appalling that talent is not paid accordingly.