Regarding the negative publicity generated by the Bob Dickey golf tournament incident, Anonymous@10:09 a.m. comments:
Do you actually think the board of directors would have a negative thought about this? Several of them have played in this, the AT&T or other PGA or LPGA pro-am events. If anything, they would applaud this as a wonderful business opportunity.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
11 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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If that's true, then why hasn't anyone at Gannett answered the question about how much the company dedicated or budgeted for the golf event?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they would. Which is why I don't understand why we are still harping on this subject. Let's move on to something juicy. Go find it, Jim! I'm still looking for details on that developing story you mentioned earlier in the week.
ReplyDeleteWe need the juicy stuff!!
True. Why are they appearing to be so secretive about it? I think that if the members of the board of directors don't see why the appearance of this is at the least distasteful, then it would certainly explain why incompetence and ethical misconduct is so easily dismissed at this company.
ReplyDeleteThe real question here is whether or not the board would consider this a violation of any provisions of the ethics policy I think.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they, too, enjoy golf. Hell. I like golf.
If I'm paid to serve on a board, golf, bowling, tennis or any love of sports would certainly not guide my decisions.
And to 11:09, big corporation ethics IS about as juicy as it gets for me!
Just another paragraph in what will become one of the foremost referenced examples in the not-yet-published "the last days of the newspaper". I salute Jim for keeping this journal that I suspect business experets will eventually cite when it comes to the failure of Gannett. Frankly folks, DuBow's reckless plan for "innovation" is hopelessly flawed and is causing Gannett's products to crash at a much quicker pace than they should have.
ReplyDeleteThe PGA Tour, in part from its pro-ams, has donated more than $1.4Billion to more than 2,000 charities since 1938.
ReplyDeleteThe number of charities that receive benefits from PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour events is estimated at over 2,000 -- which in turn, touches millions of lives. By serving the needs of the community, our tournaments support an array of organizations, including:
Education (schools, universities, scholarship programs)
Health and Human Services (medical research, hospitals, elder care, food banks, shelters)
Youth Development (after-school care, mentoring programs)
Community Services (United Way, environmental protection, literacy, the arts)
Growth of the Game of Golf
Dollars given on behalf of PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour events reach many national charitable organizations, including:
Alzheimer's Foundation
American Cancer Society
Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America
Boys & Girls Clubs of America
Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts
Driving4Life.org
The First Tee
Habitat for Humanity
Junior Achievement
Make-A-Wish Foundation
Meals on Wheels
MS Society
Ronald McDonald Houses
Salvation Army
Special Olympics
Susan G. Komen Foundation
Teach for America
YMCA
That's just to name a few. Research shows that the majority of the funds raised each year are directly funneled back into the local market, so while there is not an "official charity of the PGA TOUR," there are many who benefit from the TOUR's one goal of Giving Back. Independent researchers have determined that a big name PGA Tour event more than $10 million is funnelled back into the local community.
What this tells me is that people should boycott the pro-ams so that all the good would be stopped.
Then, everyone would be miserable. That's what it is all about.
5:43 PM
ReplyDeleteAre you trying to say that all those charities would have dried up if Dickey had sat the tournament out this year?
Come on. Raising money for charity is great. But shouldn't this guy's job come first? How much is Gannett paying him?
Since he doesn't live there and still goes, makes me wonder if maybe he's got some delegation issues going on.
could Dickey have given a "in lieu of" donation to charity instead of doing the actual tournament?
ReplyDeleteAnd does he ever participate in any of the yearly USA WEEKEND "Make a Difference Day" events?
How is the golf tournament supposed to be a violation of the ethics/conflict of interest policy? I read what Jim posted a few days ago, and I'm still trying to understand how what Dickey's doing is a conflict. Is it because he's getting some personal gain from corporate money??
ReplyDeleteWhy would they comment about this golf event? Or Ragbrai (sp) or their contributions to the foundation or donations to other charities or any other nice thing a company does? Because those are private within the company matters. My new company sponsors an event, a title sponsor. We know it costs more than $500k but other than that we don't have a clue. So what. It's a part of doing business. It has nothing to do with me. Obviously, if we were going out of business we wouldn't pay $500k on something.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed how so many people get all worked up about a non-event.
How can the company, in good sense, support Make a Difference Day. If they cancelled that program a part-timer and a few others would have their jobs saved (sic).
ReplyDeleteGive me a break. Shut up already. The negativity here scares me.