Sulzberger: Abramson’s departure had “nothing to do with pay or gender”

Matthew Lynch

New York Times Co. president and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. issued a statement on Saturday afternoon pushing back against stories that the paper fired former executive editor Jill Abramson in part because she inquired into salary inequities between herself and her male colleagues.

"Perhaps the saddest outcome of my decision to replace Jill Abramson as executive editor of The New York Times is that it has been cast by many as an example of the unequal treatment of women in the workplace," Sulzberger said in the statement. "Rather than accepting that this was a situation involving a specific individual who, as we all do, has strengths and weaknesses, a shallow and factually incorrect storyline has emerged."

Following Abramson's firing this week, The New Yorker's Ken Auletta reported that Abramson had hired a lawyer after learning that her salary was less than that of predecessor Bill Keller.

"As executive editor, Abramson’s starting salary in 2011 was $475,000, compared to Keller’s salary that year, $559,000," Auletta reported on Thursday. "Her salary was raised to $503,000, and—only after she protested—was raised again to $525,000."

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2014/05/8545562/sulzberger-abramsons-departure-had-nothing-do-pay-or-gender