Signs you've worked for Gannett a very long time

The company was an industry leader, but is now fighting for survival. Thousands of jobs are at stake. The CEO is in over his head. He has packed the do-nothing board with allies. He and his wife own a seven-figure home on a golf course, hundreds of miles from headquarters.

Meanwhile, the company's charitable foundation is being used to pump up the image of the CEO and his wife, rather than giving exclusive support to its traditional mission: helping communities and employees where they work. (Indeed, the couple uses foundation money to support personal causes near their weekend retreat.)

Finally, alarmed at the company's deteriorating condition, a group of courageous employees gathers evidence of the CEO's behavior -- and shares it with the board and the press.

I know how this story ends
Because I already wrote it -- in 1995, when I was a reporter at the Idaho Statesman in Boise. The company was Morrison Knudsen Corp. And the CEO and wife were the infamous Bill and Mary Cunningham Agee, stars of one of the 1980s' steamiest corporate soap operas.

In Boise, MK's directors finally woke up, sacking Agee during an emergency board meeting that captured national attention. The Statesman -- owned by Gannett at the time -- soon published a searing inside account, showing how directors failed to do their duty, until too late. (The company eventually filed for bankruptcy protection.) By then, the reputations of some of the more famous directors had been tarnished.

Here's the spooky part
The Reversal of Fortune series I wrote with the Statesman's Dan Popkey would never have gotten into print without help from Gannett's Law Department; it advised us on libel issues. And you know which Gannett lawyer was especially helpful?

Barbara Wall, now Gannett's chief ethics officer.

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