Lee Abrams of the Tribune Company was suspended Wednesday after sending out a memo to the entire company which had links to website parodies which used obscene language.
Abrams, the chief innovation officer at the Tribune sent out the company-wide email on Monday, which linked to the website The Onion, know for its satire.
Abrams formally apologized Tuesday, but the tribunes Chief Executive, Randy Michaels went ahead and announced his suspension on Wednesday. “He will remain on suspension indefinitely and without pay while we review the circumstances surrounding the e-mail and video link he distributed on Monday,” Michaels said in a written statement. “We’re in the process of determining further disciplinary action.”
“I thought it was offensive and I thought it was completely inappropriate to be sent out in a workplace setting to everyone in this company,” said Gerould W. Kern, who is the editor The Chicago Tribune.
The controversy comes on the back of good news for the embattled news empire, which had just announced that it had reached a settlement with lenders that may prove the company’s exit strategy from bankruptcy.
William Salganik, a former president of the Washington Baltimore Newspaper Guild, said that Abrams random email habits had hurt confidence in the company.
“I’ve been saying from the beginning of the Zell/Michaels administration that they could improve employee morale 50 percent at no cost by disabling Lee Abrams’s e-mail,” Salganik commented after the suspension was announced. Salganik now represents the Newspaper Guild on the Tribunes’ creditors committee.
