Romenesko

Grade the News
Former San Jose Mercury News exec Lou Alexander says if Knight Ridder, Gannett or Tribune announced they were going to cut margin expectation and plow big money into journalism, they'd set off a chain of events that would likely lead to the demise of the chains. "Unquestionably the immediate result of such an announcement would be that the value of the stock would fall, maybe as much as 30% to 50%. Such a move would surely cost the CEO his job. The board would have to fire him because they have a legal obligation to protect shareholder value. And if they did not fire the CEO and restore sanity to the boardroom they would likely face legal action by the shareholders."