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

                                     FORM 4

                  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).

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1. Name and Address of Reporting Person*

   Curley                           Thomas
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   (Last)                           (First)             (Middle)

Gannett Co., Inc.                7950 Jones Branch Drive
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                                    (Street)

McLean                             Virginia             22107
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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/Day/Year

October 2, 2002
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5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/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)


President and Publisher of USA TODAY and Senior Vice President/Administration
Gannett Co., Inc.
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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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                                                                                                                6.
                                                                 4.                              5.             Owner-
                                                                 Securities Acquired (A) or      Amount of      ship
                                                    3.           Disposed of (D)                 Securities     Form:     7.
                                      2.A           Transaction  (Instr. 3, 4 and 5)             Beneficially   Direct    Nature of
                        2.            Deemed        Code         ------------------------------- Owned at End   (D) or    Indirect
1.                      Transaction   Execution     (Instr. 8)                   (A)             of Month       Indirect  Beneficial
Title of Security       Date          Date, if any  ------------     Amount      or     Price    (Instr. 3      (I)       Ownership
(Instr. 3)              (mm/dd/yy)    (mm/dd/yy)     Code     V                  (D)             and 4)         (Instr.4) (Instr. 4)
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Common Stock                                                                                     32,904         D
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Common Stock            10/02/02      10/07/02       P               54.461      A      $74.31   16,916.795     I         (1)
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Common Stock            To 09/30/02                                                              2,078.435      I         (2)
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Common Stock                                                                                     741.987        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 4 (continued)

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

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                                                                                                                    10.
                                                                                                          9.        Owner-
                                                                                                          Number    ship
                                                                                                          of        Form
            2.                                                                                            Deriv-    of
            Conver-                            5.                              7.                         ative     Deriv-   11.
            sion                               Number of                       Title and Amount           Secur-    ative    Nature
            or               3A.               Derivative    6.                of Underlying     8.       ities     Secur-   of
            Exer-            Deemed   4.       Securities    Date              Securities        Price    Bene-     ity:     In-
            cise     3.      Execut   Trans-   Acquired (A)  Exercisable and   (Instr. 3 and 4)  of       ficially  Direct   direct
            Price    Trans-  ion      action   or Disposed   Expiration Date   ----------------  Deriv-   Owned     (D) or   Bene-
1.          of       action  Date,    Code     of(D)         (Month/Day/Year)            Amount  ative    at End    In-      ficial
Title of    Deriv-   Date    if any   (Instr.  (Instr. 3,    ----------------            or      Secur-   of        direct   Owner-
Derivative  ative    (Month/ (Month/  8)       4 and 5)      Date     Expira-            Number  ity      Month     (I)      ship
Security    Secur-   Day/    Day/     ------   ------------  Exer-    tion               of      (Instr.  (Instr.   (Instr.  (Instr.
(Instr. 3)  ity      Year)   Year)    Code V    (A)   (D)    cisable  Date     Title     Shares  5)       4)        4)       4)
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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 spouse and/or immediate family member of reporting person.


/s/  Thomas  Curley                                         10/09/02
---------------------------------------------        -----------------------
      **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 procedures.


       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.