Tribune Co.: No Misbehavior By OUR People In Blago Scandal

By: E&P Staff Tribune Co. said Tuesday no one associated with it did anything wrong during the time Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was allegedly attempting to pressure the company to fire Chicago Tribune editorial board members.

"No one working for the company or on its behalf has ever attempted to influence staffing decisions at the Chicago Tribune or any aspect of the newspaper's editorial coverage as a result of conversations with officials in the governor's administration," a company statement said.

As previously reported by E&P, Chicago Tribune Editor Gerould Kern said nobody from Tribune Co. complained about the editorials or coverage of the governor. "It should be clear to anyone reading our recent coverage of the governor and his administration that it is fair, balanced and factual," he said in a statement.

Among the charges of official corruption against Blagojevich, who was arrested Tuesday morning and released on $4,500 bond in the afternoon, are allegations he threatened to withhold state funding that would smooth the way for the sale of the Chicago Cubs baseball team's Wrigley Field venue. The price for getting the state help, which Blagojevich believed would be worth $100 million to the now-bankrupt Tribune, was the firing of Deputy Editorial Page Editor John McCormick and other unnamed editorial board members, federal authorities said.

In wiretaps, Blagojevich is allegedly heard suggesting the firing could take place during wider layoffs at the paper. None of the editorial board members left in the recent waves of layoffs and buyouts.

"The staffing decisions of the Chicago Tribune are completely unrelated to the editorial positions expressed within its pages," Tribune Co. said. "In fact, the current leadership of the Chicago Tribune editorial board has been in place since 2000. The most recent change to the composition of the board occurred in November 2007, when a board member voluntarily left the company for other employment and was not replaced."

Tribune said it would "fully cooperate with the government" during its investigation of the governor.