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                     U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                     FORM 5

               ANNUAL STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP

    Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
       Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or
               Section 30(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940

[  ] Check this box if no longer subject of Section 16. Form 4 or Form 5
     obligations may continue. See Instruction 1(b).

[  ] Form 3 Holdings Reported

[  ] Form 4 Transactions Reported

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1. Name and Address of Reporting Person*

Chapple                  Thomas                   L.
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   (Last)               (First)                 (Middle)

Gannett Co., Inc.   1100 Wilson Boulevard
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                                    (Street)

Arlington                           Virginia                           22234
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   (City)                           (State)                           (Zip)

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2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol

Gannett Co., Inc.   ("GCI")
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3. IRS or Social Security Number of Reporting Person (Voluntary)

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4. Statement for Month/Year

December, 1998
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5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Year)

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6. Relationship of Reporting Person to Issuer
   (Check all applicable)

   [   ]   Director                             [   ]   10% Owner
   [ X ]   Officer (give title below)           [   ]   Other (specify below)

Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary
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7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing
   (Check applicable line)

   [ X ] Form filed by one Reporting Person
   [   ] Form filed by more than one Reporting Person

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           Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of,
                             or Beneficially Owned
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                                                                                                 5.             6.
                                                                 4.                              Amount of      Owner-
                                                                 Securities Acquired (A) or      Securities     ship      
                                                                 Disposed of (D)                 Beneficially   Form:     7.        
                                                                 (Instr. 3, 4 and 5)             Owned at End   Direct    Nature of 
                                      2.            3.           -----------------------------   of Issuer's    (D) or    Indirect  
1.                                    Transaction   Transaction                  (A)             Fiscal Year    Indirect  Beneficial
Title of Security                     Date          Code             Amount      or     Price    (Instr. 3      (I)       Ownership 
(Instr. 3)                            (mm/dd/yy)    (Instr. 8)                   (D)             & 4)           (Instr.4) (Instr. 4)
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Common Stock                                                                                     4,190          D
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Common Stock                                                                                     6,826.619      I         (1)
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Common Stock                                                                                       641          I         (2)
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Common Stock                                                                                        63.04       I         (3)
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*    If the form is filed by more than one  Reporting  Person,  see  Instruction
     4(b)(v).

Reminder:  Report on a separate line for each class of  securities  beneficially
owned directly or indirectly.

                                  Page 1 of 2

FORM 5 (continued)

Table II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
         (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities)

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                                                                                                          9.        10.    
                                                                                                          Number    Owner- 
                                                                                                          of        ship   
                    2.                                                                                    Deriv-    of     
                    Conver-                    5.                              7.                         ative     Deriv-   11.    
                    sion                       Number of                       Title and Amount           Secur-    ative    Nature 
                    or                         Derivative    6.                of Underlying     8.       ities     Secur-   of     
                    Exer-                      Securities    Date              Securities        Price    Bene-     ity:     In-    
                    cise     3.                Acquired (A)  Exercisable and   (Instr. 3 and 4)  of       ficially  Direct   direct 
                    Price    Trans-   4.       or Disposed   Expiration Date   ----------------  Deriv-   Owned     (D) or   Bene-  
1.                  of       action   Trans-   of (D)        (Month/Day/Year)            Amount  ative    at End    In-      ficial 
Title of            Deriv-   Date     action   (Instr. 3,    ----------------            or      Secur-   of        direct   Owner- 
Derivative          ative    (Month/  Code     4 and 5)      Date     Expira-            Number  ity      Year      (I)      ship   
Security            Secur-   Day/     (Instr.  ------------  Exer-    tion               of      (Instr.  (Instr.   (Instr.  (Instr.
(Instr. 3)          ity      Year)    8)        (A)   (D)    cisable  Date     Title     Shares  5)       4)        4)       4)
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Stock Options/      $65     12/08/98 A         24,200       12/08/02 12/08/08  Common    24,200  0        24,200    D
Option Surrender                                                               Stock
Rights
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====================================================================================================================================

Explanation of Responses:
(1)  Held by the trustee of the Company's Deferred Compensation Plan, The 
Northern Trust Company.
(2)  Held by the trustee of the Company's 401(k) Plan, Boston Safe Deposit and
Trust Company.
(3)  Held by the trustee of the Company's Dividend Reinvestment Plan, Norwest
Bank Minnesota.

/s/Thomas L. Chapple                                        1/26/99
- ---------------------------------------------            -----------------------
      **Signature of Reporting Person                             Date

**   Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal
     Violations.

     See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a).

Note:  File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed.
       If space provided is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure.

     Alternatively,  this Form is permitted to be submitted to the Commission in
     electronic  format at the option of the reporting  person  pursuant to Rule
     101(b)(4) of Regulation S-T.

                                  Page 2 of 2

(122795DTI)