NPR news chief loses his job over kissing allegations
NEW YORK — Michael Oreskes was ousted as U.S. National Public Radio’s news chief on Wednesday 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 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 he had asked for and accepted Oreskes’s resignation. Chris Turpin, NPR’s vicepresident 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’s 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.”
Mohn said he wouldn’t give more details on the case because the only way to encourage staff members to come forward with issues was to keep the process confidential.
“When anyone, but particularly someone in power, violates a policy, acts in ways that are inappropriate, or takes steps that do not contribute to building a positive workplace, it breaks a trust,” he said.
Oreskes was a vice-president and senior managing editor at the Associated Press from 2008 until he joined NPR in 2015. He held several jobs at the New York Times, which said it is looking into the case.