Don't Blame Me Inc.: How we pass the Tucson buck

Like you, my financial security is very important. That's why I demand the highest possible return from managers of mutual funds where I invest my hard-earned savings. Now, here are the consequences:

Don't blame Corporate's executives now stationed at Arizona's 139-year-old Tucson Citizen, if they've been screening stories for negative references to Gannett during what may be the paper's final days of publishing. "Truth is," says Anonymous@3 p.m., local management called Corporate, "and asked for someone to come to deal with a newsroom spinning out of control."

Besides, Corporate's reps are just following orders, right?

Don't blame local management's boss, Bob Dickey (left). The head of the newspaper division -- Gannett's biggest, and most troubled -- told Citizen employees two months ago that "dramatic changes" in the newspaper industry, mean it's "no longer viable" for GCI and its business partner to produce two daily papers in Tucson. "We deeply regret having to take this step,'' he said. (Dickey then took off for California winter golf resort Palm Springs, for a couple five-figure rounds in a celebrity tournament -- initially, at shareholder expense.)

Besides, Dickey is just following orders.

Don't blame Dickey's boss, Chairman and CEO Craig Dubow (left). He got handed the keys in 2005, just as the economy started pitching into a major recession -- especially in Arizona. Announcing a second round of furloughs only five days ago, Dubow told employees in a memo: "We are about to begin the second quarter without any real relief in sight from this unprecedented economic downturn." (Less than a week before, Gannett disclosed that the board of directors gave $2 million in all-cash bonuses to Dubow, Dickey and GCI's other five top-paid executives -- even though GCI stock plunged 79% last year.)

Besides, Dubow is just following orders.

Don't blame Dubow's bosses, the other members of the 10-person board of directors. Gannett paid those nine independent directors a combined $925,882 last year. But they only work part-time, and some have other duties. For example, the second most-powerful member, Presiding Director Karen Hastie Williams (left), is on four other boards; she's one of two directors who were members of the board that hired Dubow as CEO, four years ago. "Our company’s stock price performance in 2008 deeply disappointed all of our shareholders, the board and management included,'' Gannett's board told stockholders last week, in the new proxy report.

Besides, the board is just following orders.

Don't blame the board's bosses, large pension and mutual funds, like those managed by Gannett's single-best shareholder, AXA Financial. Owner of 13% of GCI's stock, the company's main division, AllianceBernstein, has lost billions on paper -- spurring its board to change CEOs in December. Only a month later, disclosing a 73% drop in the firm's net income, new CEO Peter Kraus told investors: "Capital markets plummeted during the final quarter of 2008, leading to substantially negative investment returns for clients."

Besides, Kraus is just following orders.

And don't blame Kraus's boss: me -- and all the other investors who demand the highest possible return on investments, no questions asked.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green rail, upper right.