ABRAMS FIRED AT TRIBUNE; MORE SHAKEUPS IN STORE?

Tribune Corp. CEO Randy Michaels has “accepted” Lee Abrams’s resignation as the media company’s chief innovation officer. The departure of Abrams, a former radio consultant, came after a New York Times article disclosed that executives of the company, including Michaels, a former disc jockey, encouraged a fratboy culture at the Tribune and after Abrams sent an email message to employees that included a link to a raunchy Internet video that some company executives, including the editor of the Chicago Tribune, found offensive. Meanwhile, Robert Feder, the former radio-TV editor of the Tribune, has blasted the editorial leadership of the newspaper for remaining quiet while “slimebag corporate bosses” took over control of the company. “I just hope I’m around when local journalism groups start handing out awards for ethics or courage or whatever they celebrate when right triumphs over evil in our business. Because if they do give an award to any of the editors at the Chicago Tribune, I’d like to be there to point out that not one of them spoke up about what was going on inside their own company until The New York Times slapped it on its front page 12 days ago,” Feder wrote on his blog. He also condemned a recent comment by Tribune editor Gerry Kern, attempting to distance the newspaper from the goings-on at corporate headquarters. “If Kern truly believes they are different organizations,” Feder concludes, raising a question that could hit home for other Tribune Co. print and TV outlets, “how will the Tribune cover itself from now on?”