Word: gannett
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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...most significant decision, Richmond Newspapers Inc. vs. Virginia, proclaimed for the first time that the First Amendment gives the press and public a right of access to criminal trials. The Justices seemed to be trying to reassure the press after last year's confusing Gannett decision, which, although occasioned only by a pretrial proceeding, was read by many lower courts as an invitation to close entire criminal trials...
Like many newspaper owners who sell out to a chain, Robert McKinney decided to stay on and help run the place. But McKinney did not like what the Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper group (82 dailies with a combined circ. of 3.5 million), was doing to his Santa Fe New Mexican (circ. 17,960). So he sued to get it back, and last week he won. Federal District Judge Santiago Campos ordered Gannett to return the New Mexican after a six-member jury ruled that the chain had breached an employment contract McKinney signed when he sold...
Ambassador to Switzerland, was supposed to stay on five years as board chairman, publisher and editor in chief. According to McKinney, Gannett violated his "full management authority" when it ignored his objections to an editorial criticizing a political candidate. His suit, which also sought $10 million in damages, charged that Gannett made unauthorized staff changes, most notably replacing the man he had named president and general manager. Judge Campos said the chain "clearly indicated that they wanted Mr. McKinney off the masthead and that they wanted to strip him of his responsibilities...
...Gannett officials said the chain had to take a more active role in running the paper because McKinney, who lives in Middleburg, Va., was in Santa Fe so infrequently. Gannett Chairman Allen H. Neuharth said the decision was "outrageous" and "based on politics and provincialism rather than fact or law." McKinney declined to comment. The trial is set to resume next month to determine how the paper should be returned, and Gannett plans to appeal its loss. Groused one New Mexican staffer: "We'll be in a state of limbo for years...
Critics find many Gannett papers parochial and uninspired, as wholesome as enriched bread but often just as bland. Even many Gannett hands are frustrated by the company's failure to produce one truly outstanding daily. A comparison is often made with Knight-Ridder, which purchased the struggling Philadelphia Inquirer in 1969 and spent millions righting it. The Inquirer, which last week won its sixth consecutive Pulitzer, now stands comfortably in the black and high in the esteem of U.S. journalists. For some of Gannett's employees, it will take more than last week's Pulitzer to make...