Chain Loses Link

A publisher regains his paper

Like many newspaper owners who sell out to a chain, Robert McKinney decided to stay on and help run the place. But McKinney did not like what the Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper group (82 dailies with a combined circ. of 3.5 million), was doing to his Santa Fe New Mexican (circ. 17,960). So he sued to get it back, and last week he won. Federal District Judge Santiago Campos ordered Gannett to return the New Mexican after a six-member jury ruled that the chain had breached an employment contract McKinney signed when he sold the paper in late 1975. The publisher had also charged that Gannett never intended to fulfill the contract, but the jury found no evidence of fraud.

McKinney, 69, a former U.S.

Ambassador to Switzerland, was supposed to stay on five years as board chairman, publisher and editor in chief. According to McKinney, Gannett violated his "full management authority" when it ignored his objections to an editorial criticizing a political candidate. His suit, which also sought $10 million in damages, charged that Gannett made unauthorized staff changes, most notably replacing the man he had named president and general manager. Judge Campos said the chain "clearly indicated that they wanted Mr. McKinney off the masthead and that they wanted to strip him of his responsibilities."

Gannett officials said the chain had to take a more active role in running the paper because McKinney, who lives in Middleburg, Va., was in Santa Fe so infrequently. Gannett Chairman Allen H. Neuharth said the decision was "outrageous" and "based on politics and provincialism rather than fact or law." McKinney declined to comment. The trial is set to resume next month to determine how the paper should be returned, and Gannett plans to appeal its loss. Groused one New Mexican staffer: "We'll be in a state of limbo for years."

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