IN THE SPOTLIGHT
personalities. “I had been there long enough to know that it was just the way things went,” said Sophie Gayter, 27, who said Rose groped her while they walked down a hall. “People said what they wanted to you. People did what they wanted to you.”
Eleanor McManus, co-founder of Press Forward, a group of women who have been victims of sexual misconduct in newsrooms, said the Post report illustrated a systematic problem across news organizations that needed to be addressed.
“It’s pretty clear that there were people in management who were aware that there was a problem, and nothing was done,” McManus told The Associated Press on Thursday. With the stories that have come out about the likes of Rose, Matt Lauer and Mark Halperin, the networks are making strides but women need to know they can report wrongdoings without repercussions, she said.
Marcy McGinnis, who was senior vice president of newsgathering at CBS News when she left in 2005, said she didn’t know Rose but knew he had a reputation as a “ladies man.” His behavior never came up at senior staff meetings, she said, and she was surprised as others when she read about Rose’s behavior.
“This just proves how important it is for people in positions of authority to believe people when they come forward with complaints, instead of brushing them off (by saying) ‘boys will be boys’ or ‘that’s just Charlie,’” McGinnis said.
CBS News said it could not confirm or corroborate many of the stories told by The Post.
“We continue to look for ways to improve our workplace and this period of reflection and action has been important to all of us,” the network said.
The network recently appointed a working group led by Karen Raffensberger, CBS standards director, to look at the structure of how CBS handles complaints of inappropriate behavior.
For many years, Rose did his PBS interview show at the same time he worked for CBS, and the Post story also examined his behavior there. In 2003, a then-20-year-old intern was brought by Rose on a trip to California, where she alleged that he squeezed her breast while on a car ride. The woman said she complained to PBS management and was told that Rose was harmless.