The Chain Gang: One Newspaper Versus the Gannett Empire

By Richard McCord

Book Overview

"They're closing in on me, Dick, and I'm afraid they're going to get me," said Frank Wood, publisher of the Green Bay News-Chronicle, in a phone call to his friend and colleague, Richard McCord. Drained of cash and spirit, Wood could not hold out much longer against a devouring giant, the Gannett Company. As editor and publisher of the nationally distinguished weekly Santa Fe Reporter, McCord had successfully fended off Gannett's "Operation Demolition" when it moved into town. Now Wood was seeking the help of a survivor. Startling case histories of the dubious tactics practiced by Gannett, unsparing insights into the newspaper industry, and harsh conclusions all come together in the dramatic story of these two men's efforts to save the small Green Bay daily from being obliterated at the hands of the nation's largest newspaper chain. Their success is a metaphor for one of the oldest triumphs of the world: that of David over Goliath. "McCord has done something marvelous with this. He's taken a deeply disturbing nationwide trend and put it on a small midwestern stage with real characters. The Chain Gang 's message needs to be heard by as many Americans as read newspapers. Already Gannett's monopoly tactics have impoverished communities across the country. McCord is one man fighting back, coolly, rationally, creatively, and stubbornly. Let's join him."--Michael Shnayerson, Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair "More graphically than almost any other available record of the era, the Gannett piracy is what has happened to this country, tolled where the price is truly paid, in the lives of communities and people."--Roger Morris, winner of the Investigative Reporters and Editors' National Award for Distinguished Investigative Journalism "Richard McCord's The Chain Gang takes the losing battle for the soul of American newspapers from the euphoric accounts on financial pages to show what corporate news chains can mean in human terms to the people and the vitality of the victimized cities and towns. His is a unique account of the power and depredations of the Gannett Chain under its glib empire builder, Allen Neuharth. It goes behind the facade of slick public relations and financial killings for investors to show what happens when a ruthless and ambitious wheeler-dealer gets control of our news."--Ben H. Bagdikian, media critic and Pulitzer Prize winner

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826213758
• ISBN13: 9780826213754
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: University of Missouri Press
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Gripping and disturbing - I couldn't put it down

You don't have to be in the newspaper business to find this book interesting. Even if all you do is read newspapers, or use them to line the rabbit cage, you will be astonished. This exhaustively researched, extremely well-written account demonstrates in graphic detail the lengths to which a desperate monopolist will go to achieve and preserve its monopoly profits. This is a really important book.

The Best Book I've Ever Read

This is an incredible book. First of all, it's a great read. It's written by a journalist and it's compelling--I couldn't put it down. It should be made into a movie. And it's all true.It recounts how Gannett, the nation's biggest newspaper chain, resorts to illegal, and immoral tactics to force other newspapers out of business. Gannett can be perfectly profitable WITHOUT eliminating the competition, but if it has a monopoly, it can make over 30 percent profits with its newspapers. This book also tells what Gannett does to the papers it consumes--namely, slashes content, puts articles about dogs on the front pages, increases advertising, raises subscription AND advertiser rates, fires lots of employees, etc.

A must read for anyone concerned about newspapers

As a newsroom employee of a once-proud independent newspaper that was bought by the Gannett chain in 1997, I was told by colleagues who had read "The Chain Gang" that the book was a cautionary tale which would reveal the dark side of the corporation that had become my new employer. Unfortunately, I didn't take those warnings seriously enough, and I took my time about picking up the book. Now that a few years have gone by, and the newsroom staff at the paper I worked for has been decimated by the kind of cutbacks the bean-counters at unscrupulous corporations like Gannett delight in, I wish I'd read "The Chain Gang" much sooner. If you're in the newspaper business and not working for Gannett yet, the chances grow greater each year that you will be. "The Chain Gang" helps explain why, and it's a sordid story. By the way, I now refer to the newspaper mentioned at the beginning of this review as the paper I "worked" for, because after I challenged whether the paper and Gannett were living up to a corporate "ethics policy" Gannett professes to have adopted in 1999, I was transferred, against my wishes, to a much smaller newspaper the company owns. I'm continuing to try to fight that action -- not that I hope to have any kind of career with Gannett, of course -- but it would probably help to have someone like Richard McCord on my side, in his feistiest, most energized mode. Having said that, my only real complaint with "The Chain Gang" is the melancholy, defeatist tone of much of McCord's epilogue, in which, despite the admirable personal triumphs he scored in battling Gannett, he ultimately depicts his efforts as gestures bordering on futility. But I can hardly fault McCord for his candor -- something any Gannett employee is bound to find refreshing. It's truly appalling that such a shady company is among the corporations to which Americans apparently will be entrusting an increasingly disproportionate responsibility for upholding a freedom as precious as the First Amendment. Can I give "The Chain Gang" any higher praise than to say that upon reading it I immediately bought a half-dozen copies to distribute to friends in the journalism business? But you needn't be a reporter or editor to appreciate this book. In fact, the focus is less on the journalism side of the newspaper business than it is on the advertising and marketing side. But that's appropriate, since that's clearly where Gannett's focus is too.

The Dirt on Gannett

This book is outstanding. McCord covers Gannett's manuveurs to kill off the competition in New Mexico and Green Bay, WI. He shows a company that lies, cheats, and uses any means available to force competitors under. The book goes a long way toward explaining why more and more towns are one-newspaper towns and why, even in towns with more than one newspaper, so much of the content is canned (e.g., the chains of "alternative" weeklies). A frightening and important book.

Chilling Adventure Tale, as well a good ethics manual!

I played classical guitar in the background at 4 of McCord's booksignings in Green Bay last year. The personal stories he tells people who buy his book are even better than the book. And the book's good. Real good. McCord recommended I read "Toxic Sludge is Good For You," which I still have to buy one of these days. Marco Capelli