Updated at 9:15 p.m. ET
A top editor at the New York Daily News has been accused of sexual harassment and is now under investigation by the paper's parent company after inquiries by NPR.
Managing Editor Robert Moore has been accused of creating a sexualized atmosphere, pressuring women for attention and punishing those who objected. Tronc would not say whether he remains on the job or has been suspended or placed on leave.
NPR called Tronc Monday to inquire about the status of a complaint against Moore that was filed in late December. Tronc confirmed its investigation was launched in response to NPR's inquiries. Two sources who have worked under Moore at the Daily News told NPR of the complaint. Three other journalists who have worked for him at the paper said they observed similar misconduct by him.
Moore is the second Tronc newspaper executive in four days to be put under investigation owing to NPR's reporting.
Last week, Los Angeles Times Publisher Ross Levinsohn went on leave after Tronc started an investigation of him too, following an NPR report that he had been a defendant in two sexual harassment suits in earlier jobs and faced accusations of misconduct toward women. Levinsohn initially stayed on the job but within a day had taken what was called a voluntary leave of absence.
Tronc acquired the Daily News in September. According to the paper, Moore joined the tabloid as a staff writer in 2004 and became its first African-American managing editor in 2011.
He has run the newsroom since the end of December, when former Editor-in-Chief Arthur Browne left the paper. Jim Kirk, a Tronc news executive, is serving as interim editor-in-chief, starting this week. Kirk held the same position in Los Angeles until Levinsohn appointed Lewis D'Vorkin as LA Times editor-in-chief last fall.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
