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Part of this uneasiness doubtless stems from Neuharth's style. His sense of humor is barbed, sometimes tactless, and he is a notorious practical joker. His first wife, Loretta, was once arrested after he devilishly reported their car stolen. At a party a few years ago, he persuaded all 19 men present to give him their ties and then left; he never did return the ties. Neuharth dresses expensively, and always in black, white and gray. He jogs at dawn—in a black-and-white track suit. Associates call him the Black Prince. Says Ron Martin, editor of the Hearst chain's Baltimore News-American and a former colleague: "He just goes for clothes that shine and glow in the dark. But it's also a statement of a kind. It's him saying, This is me, and I dare you to do anything about it.' "
Like Neuharth, Gannett papers are invariably well packaged, smartly designed and slickly promoted. In overall quality they run several furlongs behind Knight-Ridder but ahead of just about every other large chain. Neuharth argues that Gannett has never acquired a paper it did not improve. This is testimony partly to the sorry quality of medium-sized papers in the U.S. But it is also true that Gannett has expunged the rabid right-wing excesses from a few of its papers—notably those in Springfield, Mo., and Nashville —and dramatically upgraded other properties, like the Camden (N.J.) Courier-Post. As even Morris Udall admits, "If you're going to have chain newspapers, you're not going to do much better than the kind of aggressive, community-minded, broad-based operation that Gannett has."
Beyond such generalized praise and the vague objections of chain haters, it is difficult to characterize Gannett journalism. The firm's home office in Rochester approves budgets, buys certain syndicated features and offers design and editorial assistance. Otherwise, Gannett editors are allowed wide latitude. Most would probably agree with Tom Callinan, managing editor of the Little Falls (Minn.) Daily Transcript (circ. 3,800), when he says: "I stay within my budget, put out a good product and they don't bother me."
Critics find many Gannett papers parochial and uninspired, as wholesome as enriched bread but often just as bland. Even many Gannett hands are frustrated by the company's failure to produce one truly outstanding daily. A comparison is often made with Knight-Ridder, which purchased the struggling Philadelphia Inquirer in 1969 and spent millions righting it. The Inquirer, which last week won its sixth consecutive Pulitzer, now stands comfortably in the black and high in the esteem of U.S. journalists. For some of Gannett's employees, it will take more than last week's Pulitzer to make them proud of their logos.* "Most of us feel we are too good for Gannett," grouses Joe Trento, investigative reporter for the Wilmington (Del.) News Journal, which Gannett purchased in 1978. Says a reporter at the Nashville Tennessean, which was acquired last year: "We've been a breeding ground for good young writers, but now those people aren't going to come to the Tennessean any more. Who wants to write for Gannett?"