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On his first day as the new editor in chief of the Los Angeles Times, Jim Kirk held a meeting. His newsroom had suffered through several months of turmoil — and staff members had many questions.

One of the most poignant came from a columnist, Robin Abcarian: Had Mr. Kirk ever been a defendant in a sexual harassment lawsuit?

“No,” he replied, which Ms. Abcarian said prompted a round of applause.

Her question, Ms. Abcarian said in a telephone interview on Tuesday, was an earnest one. It came less than two weeks after Ross Levinsohn, who was named The Times’s publisher in August, was put on leave after a National Public Radio article detailed sexual harassment allegations made against him while he worked at other companies. (The New York Times reported this week that Tronc — the parent company of the Los Angeles Times — vetted Mr. Levinsohn before he was hired, but the company was not aware that he had twice been a defendant in sexual harassment lawsuits.)

Mr. Kirk, who had recently served as the interim executive editor of the Los Angeles Times, replaced Lewis D’Vorkin.