美国国家公共电台 NPR Tensions Build In NPR Newsroom Over Handling Of Sexual Harassment Allegations

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

I let you down. I should have acted faster and more decisively - the words of NPR CEO Jarl in an email to our newsroom. He met with NPR staff this afternoon two days after he asked for the resignation of senior vice¹ president for news Michael Oreskes. Oreskes' resignation came after allegations emerged of sexual harassment² that occurred two decades ago and before his time at NPR.

NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik has been covering this story. He joins me from New York. Hi, David.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE³: Mary Louise.

KELLY: So in the interest of being transparent⁴ about how we are covering this story, that all-staff meeting was off the record in the interest of women being able to tell their stories and share freely. I went. You chose not to. What have you been able to learn about it?

FOLKENFLIK: It was a tough, contentious⁵ meeting. Jarl Mohn was contrite⁶ and far more concrete about what he acknowledges now are the failing to heed⁷ early warning signs about Mike Oreskes' behavior toward women. A number of female employees in particular voiced great skepticism about his ability to be the one to reshape and reform NPR, and he said he pledged to work very hard to regain⁸ their trust.

KELLY: Now, the timeline of what exactly NPR management knew and when has shifted some as the story has unfolded this week. Can you remind us just what we knew a couple of days ago when Oreskes was forced out and then what you've learned since?

FOLKENFLIK: Sure. An assistant producer first filed a complaint against Mike Oreskes in October of 2015. He was formally rebuked⁹ after that for a long dinner that delved¹⁰ into personal affairs. In late-September 2016, two veteran editors said that concerns over Mike's behavior towards women had created a toxic¹¹ workplace. And then there were these two accusations¹² that came in from women who had encounters with him when he was Washington bureau chief for The New York Times almost two decades ago. The first woman came in in October of 2016. The second came in last month, October 2017. At that point, NPR started to look into it more carefully but only took action to suspend him once it had been published in The Washington Post.

KELLY: And you've continued to talk to women who are reporting inappropriate behavior on the part of Oreskes but who have not necessarily taken it to a formal complaint.

FOLKENFLIK: Yes. And I think there have been about a half dozen women - five or six who have made formal complaints since all this news broke. But there are a number of other women who've talked to me, people who work at NPR, a woman who used to work at NPR, a number of women who are thinking about working for NPR after Oreskes had offered them some career counsel and he had encouraged them to do so.

There was the use of social media to sort of start conversations on a friendlier, professional basis, and quickly they veered¹³ into the romantic, wistful, laudatory¹⁴ and even sexual. And there seemed to be a grooming¹⁵ of women, sort of a familiarity but also a sense of expanding the boundaries of what's appropriate to allow himself to get entangled¹⁶ with them in ways that they simply did not want.

KELLY: I want people to know that we have reached out. You have reached out to Mike Oreskes himself. He has thus far not commented to NPR other than a statement that went out to staff saying he is sorry, and he apologizes for behavior that was inappropriate. In terms of where this goes next, Jarl Mohn, the NPR CEO, has announced that he's going to bring in an outside law firm to investigate how all this was handled. What exactly are we looking for there?

FOLKENFLIK: Well, we're going to see what they come up with. We're also going to see how public their findings become. And we're going to see how the board reacts to it. And there's one other thing. There's something intangible that's not necessarily formal. But we're going to see how the newsroom reacts and how the company reacts and whether or not Mohn can steady the status ship for himself or whether or not he's has really lost the ability to lead given his handling of the senior executive and his misbehavior towards the women who work for him.

KELLY: NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik, thanks for that and for your reporting all this week.

FOLKENFLIK: You bet.

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

5 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

6 contrite   

adj.悔悟了的，后悔的，痛悔的

参考例句：

• She was contrite the morning after her angry outburst.她发了一顿脾气之后一早上追悔莫及。
• She assumed a contrite expression.她装出一副后悔的表情。

7 heed   

v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心

参考例句：

• You must take heed of what he has told.你要注意他所告诉的事。
• For the first time he had to pay heed to his appearance.这是他第一次非得注意自己的外表不可了。

8 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

9 rebuked   

责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The company was publicly rebuked for having neglected safety procedures. 公司因忽略了安全规程而受到公开批评。
• The teacher rebuked the boy for throwing paper on the floor. 老师指责这个男孩将纸丢在地板上。

10 delved   

v.深入探究，钻研( delve的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She delved in her handbag for a pen. 她在手提包里翻找钢笔。
• He delved into the family archives looking for the facts. 他深入查考这个家族的家谱以寻找事实根据。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

12 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

13 veered   

v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转

参考例句：

• The bus veered onto the wrong side of the road. 公共汽车突然驶入了逆行道。
• The truck veered off the road and crashed into a tree. 卡车突然驶离公路撞上了一棵树。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 laudatory   

adj.赞扬的

参考例句：

• Now,when Carrie heard Drouet's laudatory opinion of her dramatic ability,her body tingled with satisfaction.听到杜洛埃这么称道自己的演戏才能，她心满意足精神振奋。
• Her teaching evaluations are among the most laudatory in this department.她的教学评估在本系是居最受颂扬者之中。

15 grooming   

n. 修饰, 美容，（动物）梳理毛发

参考例句：

• You should always pay attention to personal grooming. 你应随时注意个人仪容。
• We watched two apes grooming each other. 我们看两只猩猩在互相理毛。

16 entangled   

adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The bird had become entangled in the wire netting. 那只小鸟被铁丝网缠住了。
• Some military observers fear the US could get entangled in another war. 一些军事观察家担心美国会卷入另一场战争。 来自《简明英汉词典》