Overholser's 'manifesto for change'

Long-time GCI employees will recall Geneva Overholser from her days as editor of the Des Moines Register. Given her strong GCI views, they may be skeptical about her thoughts on corporate journalism. Still, On Behalf of Journalism: A Manifesto for Change, is worth reading.

In the section on Corporate Realities, and the rise of publicly traded newspaper publishers, I naturally noted the following:

"The change was led by Gannett’s Al Neuharth through an emphasis on earnings management -- smoothing out the cycles of the industry by expanding in good times, cutting in bad -- and a demand for quarter-by-quarter profit 'improvements.' The system trained Wall Street to expect quarterly gains and extraordinarily high returns. It worked for years, industry-wide, even as circulation declined. Compensation for executives was tied to economic performance. Cuts in spending kept budgets up to corporate headquarters’ expectations. Training all but disappeared, becoming journalists’ chief complaint inan American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) finding in 2002. Foreign bureaus were closed. Celebrity news replaced thefar more expensive investigative reporting. The industry becameknown for some of the highest margins around – and some of thelowest expenditures on research and development. Being a cashcow, one wag has noted, IS a business strategy."