Some U.S. newspaper plans are under-funded by hundreds of millions of dollars, and a law is kicking in that will force companies to become fully funded in the next seven years, Editor & Publisher reported today.

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 applies to all companies that offer the traditional "defined benefit" pension plan that accumulates money and pays it out in set amounts when an employee retires.
These are different from the "defined contribution" 401(k) plans that have largely replaced them. The pension act does not apply to 401(k) plans.

An updated status of newspaper pension funds was recently published in the second edition of Credit Encyclo-Media, an annual report by Fitch Ratings.