BREAKING NEWS

N.Y. Times publisher denies fired female editor was paid less

Days after the sudden termination of Jill Abramson as executive editor of The New York Times, the first woman to hold that position, the newspaper's publisher denied reports that she had been paid less than her predecessor.

"There is no truth to the charge," Arthur Sulzberger Jr. told Vanity Fair in a May 18 interview for a story published on Tuesday on the magazine's website.

"A lot of what's out there is untrue," Vanity Fair quoted Sulzberger as saying in what it billed as his first interview since the May 14 announcement of Abramson's ouster, which sparked a firestorm of commentary on women managers in the workplace.

Sulzberger, who appointed Abramson to the job in 2011, said that her position on the Times' executive committee had increased her bonus significantly, which according to the Times boosted her overall compensation more than 10 percent higher than that of her predecessor, Bill Keller, in his last year.

Vanity Fair said Abramson declined to comment on Sulzberger's statements to the magazine.