The last few weeks have brought a stream of new allegations of sexual impropriety against celebrities and politicians, and the news media of the world have also seen an increasing share of similar charges.
Here are seven high-profile journalists or media professionals who have been accused or have admitted to inappropriate sexual conduct this year.
1. Charlie Rose of PBS and CBS
At least eight women on Monday accused Rose, a well-known journalist, of sexual harassment, which included making vulgar phone calls, walking naked in front of them, and groping them. The Washington Post, which first reported the issue, quoted an apology from Rose in a statement.
“It is essential that these women know I hear them and that I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior,” he said. “I am greatly embarrassed. I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate. I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken.”
2. New York Times White House reporter Glenn Thrush
The news site Vox reported Monday that “several women” claimed Thrush made unwanted sexual advances toward them, including the report’s author, Laura McGann. She wrote that, in an incident five years ago, the two were at a bar and “when he caught me off guard, put his hand on my thigh, and suddenly started kissing me.”
A spokeswoman for the Times said Thrush has been suspended while the paper investigates the matter and that Thrush is seeking treatment for substance abuse.
3. Mother Jones Washington Bureau Chief David Corn
Politico reported on Nov. 2 that Corn’s magazine investigated him for claims of inappropriate conduct dating back to 2014. Some of his then-colleagues said that Corn had made “rape jokes” and routinely gave “unwelcome shoulder rubs and engaged in uninvited touching of their legs, arms, backs, and waists.”
Representatives for the magazine said that they believed Corn had since stopped the behavior. Corn defended himself as an “exuberant person” known to “pat male and female colleagues on the shoulder or slap them on the back.” None of it, he said, was intended to be sexual.
4. NPR Senior Vice President of News Michael Oreskes
NPR CEO Jarl Mohn announced on Nov. 1 that Oreskes had been asked to resign after a Washington Post report said two women accused Oreskes of misconduct 20 years ago when the three of them worked for the New York Times.
The women claimed, according to the report, that when he worked at the Times, Oreskes “unexpectedly kissed them on the lips and stuck his tongue in their mouths” during meetings with each of them separately when they had approached him to discuss their careers.
5. Former New Republic editor Leon Wieseltier
In late October, Wieseltier, heralded by many journalists for his enduring career at the liberal New Republic, asked for “forgiveness” for what he said were his “offenses” against women who said he had sexually harassed them when they worked at the magazine, which he left in December 2014.
Former New Republic staffers had accused Wieseltier of kissing them on the mouth without their permission and talking about his sex life in front of people at the magazine’s office. He had been about to launch a new magazine with the accusations came to light, but the project was killed.
6. NBC News political analyst Mark Halperin
Also in late October, several women accused Halperin, a well-known political journalist and author, of sexually harassing them when he was a senior staffer at CBS News in the late 1990s and initial years of the 2000s. The women said they were in more junior positions and Halperin would make inappropriate advances, including allegedly rubbing his erect penis against their bodies.
“During this period, I did pursue relationships with women that I worked with, including some junior to me,” he said at the time. “I now understand from these accounts that my behavior was inappropriate and caused others pain. For that, I am deeply sorry and I apologize.” NBC and MSNBC severed their contracts with Halperin.
7. Former Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly
After the New York Times reported on a series of multi-million dollar settlements involving sexual harassment claims, Fox ended its relationship with O’Reilly in April. The settlements were made over the course of several years, and were made with female TV producers and on-air contributors.
O’Reilly has denied any accusations of wrongdoing and has repeatedly characterized his ousting as politically and financially motivated.
