Former Hartford Courant consumer reporter broadens his charges against ex-employer

Expect the flap over the departure/firing of Hartford Courtant consumer reporter George Gombossy to get uglier in the near future, if interviews with Gombossy and one of his former editors are any sort of indicator.

As we posted yesterday, Gombossy claims he was fired for writing a column about a major Courant advertiser, the furniture chain Sleepy's, which is under investigation by the Connecticut Attorney General's Office for allegedly selling used mattresses and box springs as new. The column was held, but Gombossy posted a version of it on his new blog.

In response, the Courant sent a memo to news staffers, claiming Gombossy wasn't fired, but that his position was eliminated to make way for a new hybrid print-broadcast consumer reporter position to take advantage of the recent newsroom merger between the Courant and Fox-61, which are both owned by the Tribune Company.

In an interview, Courant senior vice president and director of content Jeff Levine elaborated on Gombossy's departing, insisting that it was "not related to the (Sleepy's) story."

Levine confirmed that the Sleepy's column was held, because editors "felt it needed some additions." He did not say what the additions would have been, but he said Gombossy declined a chance to rewrite the column before he left. Levine said the Sleepy's column has since been assigned to another reporter, but that there is "no timetable" for it to be published.

Levine said Gombossy was told that his position was being eliminated to make way for a consumer reporter position with "more multimedia elements" and that Gombossy was "uninterested" in the new job. I asked Levine if Gombossy, a 40-year veteran of the Courant, was offered another position at the paper and he replied: "He was not."

A short while later, I spoke to Gombossy on the phone, and he told a much different story. He said he had been getting pressure for months to back off on consumer-protection columns that mentioned prominent Courant advertisers, with Levine functioning as a de-facto gatekeeper for negative stories. He writes more about the subject on his blog today.

(Click "continue" to read more)

Gombossy said the Tribune's new management was already scheming to get rid of him before the furniture controversy, and that the Sleepy's column - which mentioned a consumer complaint that the chain had sold a box spring infested with bedbugs - was just the last straw.

"They knew they weren't going to control me," he said. "When they heard that I was going to do a column on Sleepy's, they went nuts."

Gombossy rejected the notion that he could have applied for the new consumer position, saying it was clear that they were trying to get rid of him. He said he has hired an attorney and is planning to sue the Courant.

After I talked to Gombossy, I called Levine back to ask about the charge that the Courant was pressuring reporters not to write negative stories about advertisers. He didn't call me back, but he insisted during our previous interview that:

"The Courant's policy has been and will always be that our own standards will not be compromised regardless of the subject or whether it is an advertiser or a politician."

I doubt this is the last we've heard of this story. It will be interesting to see what grounds (wrongful termination? age discrimination?) Gombossy cites in his lawsuit. In the meantime, I'm sure a lot of Courant readers will be watching to see whether that Sleepy's story ever runs.

Note: The New York Times also has a story today on Gombossy's departure.