'LA Times' publisher Ross Levinsohn on leave after misconduct claims

Jessica Guynn | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption LA Times employees demand CEO be fired after allegations arise Los Angeles Times reporters and editors are calling for their own publisher and CEO, Ross Levinsohn, to resign or be fired after newly surfaced allegations of misconduct while holding high profile jobs at various media companies.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Los Angeles Times has aggressively covered #MeToo sexual harassment charges against powerful figures in Hollywood.

Now its publisher and CEO, Ross Levinsohn, is taking an unpaid leave of absence as the newspaper's owner investigates a report that uncovered two sexual harassment lawsuits in which Levinsohn was a defendant and past complaints of his alleged inappropriate conduct toward women.

Tronc said the publishing company became aware of the allegations this week and launched an investigation.

Tronc "takes any allegations of inappropriate behavior by its employees very seriously. It is critical that in any such circumstances we conduct a thorough review so that we have a full understanding of what happened," said CEO Justin Dearborn in a memo to employees that was shared with USA TODAY.

Mickie Rosen, president of the Los Angeles Times and a longtime colleague of Levinsohn, will lead the newspaper in his absence. Lewis D'Vorkin, the newpaper's editor-in-chief, will continue to run the newsroom.

Levinsohn, a longtime digital media executive who held positions at Yahoo and News Corp., has been publisher of the Tronc-owned newspaper since August. He did not respond to a request for comment.

National Public Radio said it reviewed court documents and conducted interviews with more than two dozen former colleagues and associates.

According to the report, in 2001, when Levinsohn was an executive with the search-engine company Alta Vista, he was a defendant in a sexual harassment and gender discrimination case. He admitted under oath to ranking the "hotness" of female colleagues and to discussing whether a female colleague worked as a stripper and speculating whether she had slept with a co-worker, NPR said. The suit was settled in 2002.

In a second lawsuit filed in 2006, when Levinsohn was an executive with News Corp., video producer Amber Tribble claimed she had been sexually harassed by her boss, a subordinate of Levinsohn's. She also said that when she asked Levinsohn for a promotion, he suggested she model herself after a Fox Sports sideline reporter, a former pinup model. Tribble withdrew the suit and filed a second case making the same allegations in 2007. The suit was settled by News Corp. and Fox in 2008, NPR said.

In another instance, the report cited unnamed witnesses who recalled Levinsohn "aggressively kissing and pressing himself against" a woman at an industry function in front of employees and clients while he was married. Levinsohn also reportedly told a Hollywood Reporter executive he didn’t want to attend an event where he’d be surrounded by "ladies and fags," according to the report.

NPR said Levinsohn did not respond on the record to detailed questions. In a telephone call with NPR’s CEO, Jarl Mohn, Levinsohn said he would retain a lawyer if he felt NPR had disparaged him, according to NPR.

Tronc said Friday it had retained law firm Sidley Austin LLP to conduct a review of allegations against Levinsohn.

The media report on Levinsohn landed one day before federal labor officials were scheduled to announce the results of a union vote taken by the Los Angeles Times newsroom. The Los Angeles Times guild organizing committee called for Levinsohn's immediate ouster, saying he's not "fit to lead our newspaper."

On Friday, the National Labor Relations Board said the newspaper's journalists had voted to unionize for the first time in its 136-year history.

The committee also urged Tronc to conduct an independent investigation to determine whether Levinsohn acted inappropriately toward Los Angeles Times employees during his tenure as publisher.

"Tronc and its board of directors must be held accountable for their failure to properly vet Levinsohn for one of the most important positions at the company and in American journalism," the committee said in a statement.

The Los Angeles Times broke stories about allegations of sexual assault by director James Toback and alleged misconduct by actor James Franco.