Gannett

Media and Entertainment

Risk Level:

Rating - Danger
High Risk

Summary:

While Gannett (which operates USA Today and other outlets) has not terminated business relationships due to ideological beliefs; however, it has demoted a deputy editor for stating that men cannot get pregnant. Gannett did not cave to employee demands that the editor be fired. Gannett has donated to many different ideological groups and supported the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests. For these reasons, Gannett receives a "High Risk" rating.

Criteria
Risk Level
Rationale
Corporate Weaponization
Criteria

Has denied service to customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level
Rationale

Gannett received a score of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign (1). Among other requirements, this means the company has pledged to vet vendors for LGBTQ policies. In 2022, primary Gannett publication USA Today demoted its deputy editorial page editor for tweeting that men cannot get pregnant. Gannett’s LGBTQ Employee Research Committee lobbied for the editor to be fired, although the publication appears to have compromised despite the growing progressivism within the publication’s leadership (2)(3).

Criteria

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level
Rationale

Gannett’s gift matching guidelines note that “gifts to sectarian organizations may be matched at the Foundation’s discretion, if the organization uses the funds primarily to benefit the community” (1).

Criteria

Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.

Risk Level
Rationale

Gannett protects employees from both religious and viewpoint (political affiliation) discrimination (1).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy
Criteria

Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

Gannett has published some pages expressing support for events such as Pride Month and the 2020 racial justice protests (1) (2). However, after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Gannett sent a memo to its journalists urging them to remain neutral on their public social media platforms (3).

Criteria

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

Gannett has donated to left-wing organizations, including BLM, the American Civil Liberties Union, Color of Change, Planned Parenthood, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and the Southern Poverty Law Center (1)(2).

Criteria

Uses corporate political contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level
N/A
Rationale

Gannett does not operate a PAC.

All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
December 31, 2022

Company reports are intended for educational use only. Full Disclaimer

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