NYTimes Denies Abramson Fired Over Salary Issue

'Politico' Says She's Winning PR War

Jill Abramson Intsagram photo

After the surprise announcement Wednesday that New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson, the first women to ever hold the position, had been fired from her job after less than three years, reports quickly surfaced that said she'd been removed at least in part because she'd complained about her compensation package being lower than that of her predecessor, Bill Keller.

The Times denied that, but the story remained out there, leading publisher and chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. to send a memo to the Times staff Thursday that said, "It is simply not true that Jill's compensation was significantly less than her predecessors. Her pay is comparable to that of earlier executive editors. In fact, in 2013, her last full year in the role, her total compensation package was more than 10% higher than that of her predecessor, Bill Keller, in his last full year as Executive Editor, which was 2010." He wrote, "Compensation played no part whatsoever in my decision . . . Nor did any discussion about compensation. The reason -- the only reason -- for that decision was concerns I had about some aspects of Jill's management of our newsroom, which I had previously made clear to her, both face-to-face and in my annual assessment."

But while Sulzberger and the Times are saying that, the narrative of Abramson being fired because she asked for equal pay is out there, and, according to Politico, quote, "so far she's winning the press relations war." Abramson's firing has sparked a national conversation about gender and inequality in the workplace, with even Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saying the case is, quote, "a perfect example, if it's true, of why we should pass paycheck equity."

Ken Auletta reported in The New Yorker that Sulzberger thought Abramson was too, quote, "pushy" when she raised concerns about her salary. Other complaints supposedly made about Abramson were that she was "polarizing" and "mercurial." Even beyond the salary issue, the post-firing discussion has also been about the names assertive women are called in the workplace, with many questioning if a man would have been fired for having those same qualities disparagingly pinned on Abramson.

According to Politico's reporting, the primary issue in Abramson's firing was her attempt to hire Janine Gibson, the executive editor of The Guardian U.S., as co-managing editor without consulting the existing managing editor, Dean Baquet -- who has now taken over the executive editor job from Abramson.

Abramson's daughter published an Instagram photo yesterday showing her mother in front of a punching bag with boxing gloves on, captioned, "Mom's badass new hobby," and hashtagged with the words #girls and #pushy.

Bloomberg's Edmund Lee discusses Jill Abramson’s ouster at the Grey Lady. He speaks on Bloomberg Television’s “Market Makers.”