Lack of coverage in Utah papers about Overstock.com?

Former BusinessWeek writer Gary Weiss, a frequent critic of Overstock.com and its CEO, Patrick Byrne, wants to know why the Utah papers have not covered the departure of a top executive from the company.

Weiss writes, “What I wonder about is the bewildering (or maybe not so bewildering) silence of Overstock’s hometown newspapers, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News. Not one word in those two newspapers about the departure of David Chidester, head of internal financial controls.

“Are they too terrified of the Nastiest CEO in America, Patrick Byrne, to do their jobs? Are they worried about personal attacks from Byrne? Are they afraid of their families being terrorized by the child-stalker Judd Bagley?

“These newspapers’ silence seems to substantiate one of the points in the Big Money article, which is that Byrne uses crude tactics to discourage coverage. Apparently these tactics work, and they certainly do close to home.

“Keep in mind that Chidester’s resignation is not a rumor. Overstock filed an SEC Form 8-K announcing his departure, five days after the event.”

Read more here. Talking Biz News has asked the business news desks of the Salt Lake papers for a response.