Media 2023: MIKE REED

Reed has held USA Today publisher Gannett’s top position since its 2019 merger with GateHouse Media owner New Media Investment Group, where he was CEO. Under his leadership, the company has not only been writing headlines but making them. 

On June 5, during Gannett’s annual shareholder meeting, hundreds of Gannett journalists walked off the job in protest of the company’s cost-cutting measures, which had resulted in layoffs, benefit reductions and shuttered newsrooms. Despite protesters calling on shareholders to hold a no-confidence vote, Reed was re-elected board chairman.

Two weeks after the walkout, in an unrelated move, Gannett filed a high-profile lawsuit against Google, alleging that the tech giant holds a monopoly on the digital advertising market. 

Reed has served on the boards of the Newspaper Association of America (now the News/Media Alliance), The Associated Press, the University of Alabama’s College of Communication and Information Sciences and the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Founded in 1906, Gannett is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher by daily circulation, owning 218 daily media outlets spread across 43 states.