“I am deeply troubled that the editorial board members were not allowed to address concerns raised about the Obama [February 1] and McCain [February 3] editorials, even though the endorsements were turned in more than two days before they were published. Instead, wholesale rewrites were done by people who aren’t even on the board, including one person who is no longer employed by the paper.
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“I was not even told that a McCain rewrite had been commissioned nor was involved in the process. Yet, the former editorial board editor and another former board member were deemed appropriate for that task. Not only does this undermine my position but it devalues and patronizes the editorial board writers who wrote the original endorsements: an African-American, a Latino and two white women. (As you know, both endorsements were rewritten by white men.)
“I resigned on Friday. I believe today will be my last day. It’s been a pleasure working with all of you.”
UPDATE: Here’s Cyrus Freidheim’s staff memo responding to Cheryl Reed, as posted on Romenesko:
“Both Michael and I are deeply committed to diversity in the newsroom and elsewhere in our company. Our recent actions with respect to the reductions in force were driven in large measure by our desire to maintain a staff that represents all of Chicago.”
