Recognise this happy chap above? No, well like the Lee Marvin character, Walker, in the iconic John Boorman daylight noir film, 'Point Blank', I'm a great believer in the theory that if you go far enough up the chain in an organisation, you always find the one man who makes all the decisions.
The man in the photograph is Craig A. Dubow, no not the one with the gun, that's Lee Marvin. Craigie boy sits at the top of the corporate chain and is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Gannett Company Incorporated of America. He makes all the decisions.
Gannett is the largest newspaper publisher in the USA, operating some 90 daily newspapers and 23 television channels, including the tabloid 'USA Today'. The company was founded by former Republican presidential candidate Frank Gannett, whose family arrived in the USA via Dorset, the Netherlands and Scotland.
In the UK they operate under a subsidiary called Newsquest, owning and running 17 daily and 300 weekly newspapers, including the Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times. It could be said that as the man at the top of the chain, Mr Dubow's decisions and deliberations directly impact on the news that these 'Scottish' papers deliver.
It is claimed that Newsquest executives are so cowed by Gannett, that not only do they have to raise their hands when nature calls, but they also have to submit a lengthy cost benefit analysis, breaking down the gross cost of their ablutions and what impact such bowel evacuations might have on the Gannett share price...
Some of you may remember Pete Wishart of the SNP in 2007 alleged that Newsquest had mislead the Competitions Commission as to their intent regarding jobs and err standards, when they paid SMG £216 million for the three titles in 2003. Subsequent strikes, redundancies and dramatic collapse in the quality of reporting may have proved Mr Wishart as being not too far off the mark in his assumptions.
After the Sunday Herald's excruciating mea maxima culpa regarding inferences by Ms Go Lassie Go , Mandy Rhodes at Holyrood magazine and The Drum magazine that their relationship with lawyers Levy and MacRae was a conflict of interest in the reporting of the Steven Purcell cocaine story, one can't help wondering if the Newsquest executives are starting to check the exit strategies. Herald editor Donald Martin's decision to leave Glasgow for the bright lights of Dundee and the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Sunday Post, this was a career move that allegedly caused spontaneous outbursts of joyful applause and whoops in the Herald building.
The news today that Newsquest chief executive Paul Davidson dumped 16,250 of his Gannett shares on the market, netting a tidy $200,000 profit may be causing further ruffles, particularly as 16,250 is the maximum he's allowed to sell under US Security and Exchange commission rules. These shares are his reward for seeing the Newsquest group shed 23% of their workforce to a mere 5,100. Has he seen the writing on the wall?
Mr Dubow, the man at the top of the chain has been rewarded nicely too, bringing home an estimated $8 million last year after seeing sales decline by 22% and the workforce decimated by some 6,000. He garnered snorts of derision when he announced in 2008 he was taking a cut in salary from $7.5 million to $7.3 million. The poor man.
A dedicated blog which chronicles every twist and duplicitous turn by Gannett and Newsquest executives makes for excellent reading and is a great foreshadow of what probably awaits journalists at the group. It shines a bright light into the murkiest corners of the old Herald group who have managed to drag the good name of good old fashioned Scottish journalism through the mud.
Mr Dubow can thank his lucky stars that he doesn't owe Lee Marvin's 'Walker' any money.
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