NPR news chief Oreskes ousted after harassment allegations

NEW YORK - Michael Oreskes was ousted Wednesday as National Public Radio’s news chief following accusations by two women that he suddenly kissed them while they were discussing job prospects when he was Washington bureau chief at The New York Times in the 1990s. Oreskes, who had been placed on leave by NPR following Tuesday’s report in the Washington Post on the harassment allegations, said that he was deeply sorry to the people he hurt.

“My behaviour was wrong and inexcusable, and I accept full responsibility,’’ he said. Jarl Mohn, NPR’S president and CEO, said that he had asked for and accepted Oreskes’ resignation. Chris Turpin, NPR’S vice-president of news programming and operations, was appointed temporary leader of the radio network’s newsroom.

The Post’s story said the two women, who talked to the newspaper on condition of anonymity, had reported Oreskes’ behaviour to NPR last month. Following the Post report, NPR reported that Oreskes had been reprimanded after a separate incident in 2015 in which a female producer complained she was made to feel uncomfortable during a dinner when Oreskes talked about sex and asked about her personal life.

“Some have asked me if it took published news reports for us to take action,’’ Mohn said. “The answer is that it did not. We have been acting. Some of the steps we took were visible and others weren’t. We have a process in place and we followed that process.’’