Customer Reviews

The Chain Gang: One Newspaper Versus the Gannett Empire

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My only complaint with the book is a bit too much McCord, although his story is part of the whole. I can live without his comments on small-town suspicion...it detracts from his main story, which is a whopper...the subversion of a free press by the forces of greed. Fight on, Dick! (I was sports editor of the News-Chronicle at the time of McCord's articles.)

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.

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.

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.

After reading a recent interview of Mr. McCord published in the Santa Fe Reporter, I purchased this book. It is quite a story, based upon good solid research and good solid judgment. Mr. McCord started the Reporter in 1974, and not long after, feared for his paper's existence due to the voracious appetite of the Gannett organization. His research of Gannett's practices in other non-competitive markets allowed him to conduct a pre-emptive strike which enabled his paper to live to fight another day (even currently, as we read this). The second part of this book tells the battle Mr. McCord waged on behalf of a long-time industry friend near Green Bay, Wisconsin. Planning, researching, trusting the right people, and having the strength to do the right thing are at the core of this story.

Mr. McCord is a great storyteller, who knows which details he needs to justify his expose and which he should use to construct a report that even the non-journalist will be outraged by. In this day of "buy local", Mr. McCord's efforts on behalf of independent newspapers is must reading. Then, go out, do a bit of your own research, and buy a paper written by good, honest reporters and ethical publishers who know your region best.

The Chain Gang is a riveting story, which should be required reading for every journalism student. Indeed, it should be required for anyone who reads newspapers or their current electronic incarnations.

The Chain Gang, written by Richard McCord, was an interesting synopsis featuring the undermining practices of the Gannett Empire. He tells his own story of his dealings with this masterful mega-chain and also his personal crusade against it. Overall the book was an excellent read and a necessary referance for any community journalist.
The information McCord produces with this book is almost overwhelming. He has no problem showcasting everything he discovered about Gannett, no matter how ugly. The shocking quality and amazing clarity of his wods would grab even those who are not at all interested in the details of the newspaper.
Another great aspect of the book is the way it lets the reader flow through it. The words are not unnecessarily difficult and the tone keeps the pages turning. The book leaves room for more thn just journalism issues. I think you can even substitute the newspapers for other kinds of businesses and still get the point across. We always need to fight for the underdogs, if not for them than for our own good.
There was one part of the book that I did not particularly care for. I thought McCord repeated some things too many times. I know he wanted to instill Gannett's crimes into our minds, but I found myself skipping over parts where it seemed like I had already heard about them. Besides this, I think the book was great and I am very glad I was able to purchase it.

For one who was currently employed by Gannett and had never heard of its ways, this book could be a kick in the face.

I enjoyed "The Chain Gang" because of its raw, solid descriptions of what tactics someone can use to get what they want. It almost reminded me of a spoiled child. Richard McCord, its author, is obviously a very hardworking man who genuinely cares about what he does. Above all, he must have a big heart for people and the journalistic business itself.

This book did more than provide an interesting view to its readers, it provided information for one to learn from. It was full of details, honesty, and insight. McCord shared his every thought with the reader about the whole ordeal, begining with his struggles in New Mexico. He was honest about his feelings about the whole Green Bay Project, the people he came in contact with, the homesickness he felt and even how he felt after a hangover his next to last night in Green Bay. The reader appreciates honesty instead of words that are just expected.

The book, however provided too much detail at times. No being interested in law, there were times I got bored with the different cases and rulings that were thrown out at me throughout the book. Often times, I lost my concentration because of this. It felt, at other times, that he went on and on about some of Gannett's tactics as if this way was his only means to get the message across. Sometimes I think short would have been sweeter.

All in all, the book was very informative and a fairly easy read. I would recommend it to anyone before they began working for a Gannett-owened paper. It just might make them change their mind.

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

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.