As if the Tribune Company did not have enough problems.

A day after the newspaper and television chain filed for bankruptcy protection, federal law enforcement officials said Tuesday that the governor of Illinois, Rod R. Blagojevich, had been illegally threatening to withhold the state’s help in a business deal unless the company’s flagship, The Chicago Tribune, fired editorial writers who had criticized the governor and called for his impeachment.

The writers were not fired, and the editorial page continued to confront the governor. Editors for The Chicago Tribune said Tuesday that they were not aware of any pressure from the governor’s office and the company said it did not do the governor’s bidding.

“I first heard it this morning,” said R. Bruce Dold, the editorial page editor. “I had no inkling at all. We had no idea that he was allegedly bringing this kind of pressure. It was pretty shocking to wake up and hear the governor is gunning for you.”

But conversations recorded by federal investigators, and excerpted in a criminal complaint filed Tuesday by the United States attorney’s office for the Northern District of Illinois, suggest that for a few weeks Mr. Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, believed that the company would give in.