While the beleaguered employees of Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and many local newspapers, suffer widespread layoffs and furloughs, the boss, Craig Dubow, is doing very nicely, thank you. David Carr simmers.

In announcing that Mr. Dubow would receive a hefty package, double the previous year, Gannett hardly shied away from part of what was driving the award: “The company achieved substantial expense reductions through a variety of efforts, including continued centralization and consolidation efforts and salary freezes, positioning the company for growth as economic conditions improve.”

Ken Doctor, an analyst at Outsell and the author of “Newsonomics,” suggested that Gannett is mostly in the business of managing entropy.

“There has not been a lot of strategy other than cost-cutting to maintain profits and some small bets in digital that have not had any significant impact yet,” he said.

While their approach may be lacking in imagination and long-term strategy, Mr. Dubow and his team can be credited with being prudent in difficult times. Prudent, except when it comes to their own compensation.

We are itching to say that such a class of clueless privilege has not walked the earth since the days of the ancien régime, but we’re feeling pretty clueless, too. How can this sort of thing go on and on and on?

Drop me a line at rjk@dailyblague.com
This entry was posted on Monday, April 11th, 2011 at 10:30 am.