Globe clears editor of wrongdoing over texts
The Boston Globe has cleared editor Brian McGrory of wrongdoing following accusations of sexual harassment by a former Boston.com employee.
“The investigator found that Mr. McGrory did not violate our anti-harassment policy,” Globe spokeswoman Jane Bowman told the Herald.
The Globe had hired an outside counsel to investigate whether McGrory broke from company policy with text messages he’s accused of sending to former Boston.com editor Hilary Sargent, who has said the messages were inappropriate and sexually suggestive.
Bowman said McGrory and Sargent both gave investigators their “complete cooperation.”
Bowman declined any further comment on behalf of the Globe, and said the newspaper would not be making public the memo it sent to staff yesterday about the investigation. Sargent’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comment from the Herald yesterday evening.
Sargent posted a screenshot two months ago of a text message in which she says McGrory wrote, “What do you generally wear when you write?”
The Globe reported yesterday that the outside counsel deemed the texts sent between McGrory and Sargent “were of a personal nature, the investigator found that they were initiated by and reciprocated by both parties.”
Sargent for months has been raising questions about the Globe and its coverage of sexual harassment. She has sent emails to top executives, including owner John Henry, asking to speak to them about the issue of sexual harassment at the Globe, but those emails weren’t returned, she has said.
Boston.com is part of the Globe organization, but has a separate editorial structure. McGrory has said that he and Sargent dated for several years beginning in the late 1990s before she worked at Boston.com.