Vice execs on leave post-harassment claims
VICE Media on Tuesday suspended two top executives over sexual harassment claims at the millennial news producer.
President Andrew Creighton and Chief Digital Officer Mike Germano are on leave, the company said in an internal e-mail that unveiled sweeping new measures Shane Smith’s company is taking to combat reports of widespread sexual harassment and a hostile “boys club” culture.
“It is a new year,” Chief Operating Officer Sarah Broderick wrote in the memo. “And a new year is a time for change — no more so than here at Vice.”
The shake-up follows a bombshell New York Times report Dec. 23 that Smith’ s edgy news company had settled at least four cases involving sexual harassment, including one involving a former employee who said she was fired after rejecting Creighton’s sexual advances.
The ex-employee was paid a $135,000 settlement, according to the report. Creighton said he considered the woman a “close friend” and that he had been intimate with her on occasion, but said he was not involved in the decision to let her go.
Vice said it had investigated the complaints and found them to be without merit. On Tuesday, the company said Creighton had agreed to go on voluntary leave while the company hires an independent outside firm to undertake a more comprehensive review.
A report from the outside firm, which reports to an independent board committee, will be presented to the board on Jan. 11.
Vice will also endeavor to bring women up to 50 percent of payroll by 2020, Broderick said. All employees worldwide will be required to undergo training to avoid sexual harassment.
In December, Jason Mojica, former editor-in-chief of Vice News and more recently the head of documen- tary news, was fired for allegedly failing to take proper action after a staffer in Los Angeles complained she was being harassed by her immediate superior.
Mojica confirmed he was one of three fired in late November but denied he had dismissed the employee’s complaints.
That report followed a November report in the Daily Beast that detailed how dozens of employees felt they had been the victims of sexual harassment at Vice going back more than a decade.
Vice co-founders Smith and Suroosh Alvi conceded to the Times that “from the top down, we have failed as a company to create a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone, especially women, can feel respected and thrive.”
Walt Disney and Twenty-First Century Fox are substantial investors, and Vice has a deal to produce a daily show that runs on HBO.
Tronc has turned to Lewis D’Vorkin, the new editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times, to find a new publisher/editor-in-chief for its newest acquisition, the beleaguered Daily News, which is now rudderless.
Arthur Browne stepped down from the publisher/EIC role on Dec. 31.
One insider said that Tronc has slashed close to 100 jobs — from advertising, circulation, legal, human resources and IT — as it consolidates many positions within the chain, which includes the Times and the Chicago Tribune. So far, the editorial side of the payroll at the Daily News, which is down to only 85 full-timers, has been largely spared.
Still, the news that D’Vorkin would be heading the search for the troubled tabloid was a surprise onn many fronts.
First, he’s never run a city newsroom. In a previous gig, as chief product officer at Forbes, D’Vorkin was instrumental in using a network of low-priced bloggers to draw traffic. The plan also drew criticism for blurring the line between legit editorial and native advertising.
More important, in his current gig, he is facing a restless newsroom in Los Angeles. About 350 newsroom employees are scheduled to vote on Jan. 4 on a motion to join the News- Guild-Communications Workers of America.
Bernie Lunzer, president of the NewsGuild, told Media Ink, “I don’t think I’m going out on a limb saying I think we are going to win this thing.”
Back in New York, no clear candidate has emerged to run Tronc’s teetering tabloid, which is selling only 187,000 copies on newsstands each weekday, a huge tumble from its peak years.
The News lost $13.9 million in the first half of 2017 as revenue slumped 13 percent, to $63.6 million. Said one insider, editing the paper is now a “collaborative effort” involving Robert Moore, the managing editor, news, and Zach Haberman, head of content, and several others.
Reached on Tuesday, Moore said, “From experience, I don’t answer any personnel questions.” But sources said he raised his hand for the top job and was told he would not get it.
“We are in the midst of a search for the next editor-in-chief of the New York Daily News and expect to make an announcement in the next few weeks,” said a Tronc spokeswoman.