Louis D Boccardi

Former Associated Press President Lou Boccardi, a member of the Gannett board since 2003, spoke at the 2005 Gannett Newspaper Management Conference in late August. He addressed the current state of ethics and credibility in our industry. NEWS WATCH shares selected portions of Boccardi's remarks here. Boccardi was president of The AP from 1985 to May 2003. After his retirement from AP, he was asked by The New York Times to be one of three people from outside the company to investigate and issue a report on the Jayson Blair case. The three issued a report critical of several aspects of management approaches and processes that allowed the Blair scandal to occur. When CBS found itself in the middle of an uproar over the handling of the story about the National Guard record of President Bush, once again Boccardi was tapped. Along with former U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, he was asked to investigate the circumstances and provide recommendations to CBS News.