A month and a half ago, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s devastating investigation into Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual predation lit a fuse within the media and entertainment industries, precipitating a deluge of claims from myriad outlets about the foul behavior of public figures ranging from Charlie Rose to Louis C.K. to Mark Halperin. Now, the conflagration has arrived back at the Times’s own doorstep. On Monday morning, Vox published a story with the headline, “Exclusive: N.Y.T. White House correspondent Glenn Thrush’s history of bad judgment around young women journalists,” which contained allegations of inappropriate groping and kissing by Thrush, one of America’s most prominent political reporters. The story detailed incidents depicting Thrush, who is 50 years old and married, making inappropriate advances upon women in their twenties, including some who were his colleagues during the time he worked at Politico. After some of these encounters, one source told Vox, Thrush told colleagues that the women had been the initiators. The story’s author, Vox editorial director Laura McGann, was not only a reporter probing the allegations; she herself had been on the receiving end of what she writes was an unwanted advance by Thrush when she was an editor at Politico. (I, too, used to work at Politico, where I overlapped with Thrush, who I’ve had a cordial relationship with, and McGann, who I do not know.)
After the story’s publication, the Times announced that it was investigating the matter, and Thrush was quickly suspended. Thrush, meanwhile, issued a statement apologizing to “any woman who felt uncomfortable in my presence, and for any situation where I behaved inappropriately.” He also disclosed that he was beginning outpatient treatment for an alcohol-abuse problem. “I am working hard to repair the damage I have done.” (I texted Thrush to see if he wanted to speak further, but didn’t get a response. His full statement circulated on Twitter.)
At the Times, known for occasionally obsessive self-reflection, the news prompted enormous anxiety. The news organization that fomented an extraordinary cultural upheaval was suddenly tasked with managing through it. The newsroom, like many others, is on edge. “People are feeling embarrassed, discouraged, and vulnerable,” said one veteran Times editor. The source pointed me to a tweet from a young female digital news editor, Maira Garcia, who wrote: “I’ll say this: I’m proud to work at The Times. I give so much of myself to it, as do so many other women who work there. They are an inspiration. But I can still feel angry, sad and disappointed. And I can also hope that we all come out better in the end.” Times management knows they’re in the spotlight. Executive editor Dean Baquet and C.E.O. Mark Thompson both sent staff memos addressing the matter. “The alleged behavior described in the piece is clearly not in keeping with the values we expect from Times employees,” Baquet wrote. “We plan a thorough investigation . . . and it’s critical that we hold ourselves to the highest possible standards of behavior.”
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