Reprinted with permission from AlterNet.
A new report in the New Yorker by Ronan Farrow reveals that six women accuse CBS CEO Leslie Moonves of sexual misconduct, behavior that was reportedly perpetuated in parts of the company by a “toxic” workplace culture that allowed men accused of abuse to be promoted.
Even before the story was published, news leaked that such allegations were about to break. The network’s board of directors announced that it will launch an investigation into the claims against Moonves.
According to Farrow, those claims include six women who say Moonves sexually harassed them between the 1980s and the 2000s. Four of the women accused him of forcible kissing or touching, while two others said they had been physically intimidated or threatened by him.
All six women also said that when they rejected Moonves, their careers suffered as a result.
The writer Janet Jones, for instance, told Farrow that she had to shove Moonves off after he “forcibly kissed her at a work meeting.”
“He has gotten away with it for decades,” she said. “And it’s just not O.K.”
Farrow also reports that 30 people, including both former and current employees of the company, say there were serious sexual misconduct problems at CBS beyond Moonves’ behavior. Some of that behavior has already been reported, such as former “60 Minutes” host Charlie Rose’s sexual misconduct and harassment of women.
“During Moonves’s tenure, men at CBS News who were accused of sexual misconduct were promoted, even as the company paid settlements to women with complaints,” Farrow writes.
“It’s top down, this culture of older men who have all this power and you are nothing,” a longtime producer at CBS said to Farrow. “The company is shielding lots of bad behavior.”
Cody Fenwick is a reporter and editor. Follow him on Twitter @codytfenwick.
