Paper Losses

by Bryan Gruley

Paper Losses is the story of the twenty-five-year struggle between the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press, two proud, family-owned newspapers that became pawns in the hands of the largest newspaper chains of our time, Gannett and Knight-Ridder. It is a story of personal ambition and corporate greed, of Wall Street and the courts - but, above all, it is a compelling cautionary tale about American journalism over the last three decades. Between them, the News and the Free Press claimed more readers per capita than any newspaper in any other major American city, but by the late 1980s both were losing millions of dollars a year. With Wall Street looking over their shoulders, Gannett and knight-Ridder sought a peculiar form of government relief that would allow the papers to continue in artificial competition - while promising their parent companies tens of millions of dollars in profits. But the simple solution soon becomes a complicated test of wits and wills between two long-time rivals: Alvah Chapman, Jr., the steely, Bible-reading chairman of Knight-Ridder, and Al Neuharth, the flamboyant leader of Gannett and the founder of USA Today. A battle that begins in Detroit rages across the land, from union halls and corporate boardrooms to the offices of legal legend Clark Clifford and Attorney General Edwin Meese. In the end, what Neuharth and Chapman believed could be settled in a polite chat winds up on the docket of the United States Supreme Court. Bryan Gruley weaves this many-layered and complex story into a fast-paced narrative filled with unforgettable characters and bitter conflicts. As riveting as Barbarians at the Gate, as incisive in its insights into the media business as The Powers That Be, this consummately reported and passionately told tale is one that has repercussions for all of us.

448 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1993

About the author

Bryan Gruley's sixth novel, BITTERFROST, tells the story of Jimmy Baker, a former minor league hockey player who quit the game after almost killing an opponent in a fight. Thirteen years later, he's the Zamboni driver for an amateur team in his hometown of Bitterfrost in northern lower Michigan--and the prime suspect in a brutal double murder. Meg Gardiner, #1 New York Times bestselling author, “Visceral, vivid, and suspenseful, Bitterfrost immerses readers in a chilly—and chilling—world of lost dreams and deadly feuds. I was instantly and completely engrossed. Masterfully done.”

Gruley is also the author of the Starvation Lake trilogy, including his Edgar-nominated debut, STARVATION LAKE, as well as two novels set in Bleake Harbor, Michigan. A lifelong journalist, he shared in The Wall Street Journal's Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He lives in northern Michigan with his wife, Pam.

Reviews

[Billie Rae Bates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent chronicle and analysis.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up in Detroit, and was very interested in this story about the struggle between the Freep and News. Bryan did a very good job of keeping this story interesting. Great job.