The New York Times defending corporate governance -- its own

Dealscape (HT Bainbridge) notes the irony of the NYT defending itself against the very corporate governance industry that its own Gretchen Morgenson has helped build. Indeed, to make the plot thicker, it's being attacked by an arm of Morgan Stanley, whose CEO Morgenson attacked for insider trading. The paper also notes that governance leader ISS has the Times in its sights, having been targeted by Morgenson two years ago.

I've been on this story for awhile. Here I am on Morgan Stanley noting, consistent with Steve Bainbridge (quoted in this story) and Dealscape's line:

I see no problem with the NYT having any corporate structure it wants. Its shareholders had fair notice of this structure when they invested. But I don't see such an attitude from Gretchen, who has touted a single, unrealistic, vision of what corporate governance should look like.

More on that subject here. And here I discuss the NYT reporting on the ISS's criticism of the Times, and on the Tribune deal.

Finally, here's my response a year ago to Steve Bainbridge's argument that the Times shareholders should accept its governance structure because they bought into it:

If the market demands that the NYT adjust to these new voices and technologies and its managers are lagging in that respect it's easy to see why the Times would be suffering and why its shareholders would want change. It's called creative destruction. A system that doesn't accommodate it is doomed to fail. We shouldn't lament its happening at the Times.