NPR’s Mohn On Medical Leave
• NPR President Jarl Mohn is taking a medical leave while dealing with the aftermath of an internal sexual harassment scandal that resulted in the firing of a top news executive. The Los Angeles Times reports that Mohn’s leave, which expected to last at least a month, is related to a ruptured aorta he suffered earlier this year that required him to undergo open-heart surgery.
In a staff memo, Mohn wrote, “As many of you know, last March I suffered a nearly fatal ruptured aorta. I returned to work with the blessing of my physician with one important caveat — I cannot allow my blood pressure to rise. Regretfully, the hypertension has returned to a dangerous level, and I have been instructed to take medical leave until my health returns to normal, at a minimum of four weeks.” Chief Operating Officer Loren Mayor will manage day-to-day operations in Mohn’s absence.
As the Times piece continues, “Mohn, 65, has come under fire inside NPR for what some staff members perceived as a slow response to the sexual harassment complaints made against the service’s news chief, Michael Oreskes, who resigned last Wednesday. Oreskes was ousted after a report that he allegedly made inappropriate sexual advances toward two women while he was Washington bureau chief of the New York Times in the 1990s, and that a harassment complaint had been filed against him by an NPR employee in 2015.”
Published reports have said NPR staff members have privately expressed their concern that Mohn did not respond quickly enough to the issues raised over Oreskes’ behavior. NPR has brought in an outside law firm to review the internal response to the allegations. In the note announcing his medical leave, Mohn apologized for not recognizing the matters related to Oreskes sooner. “In retrospect, I did not see the bigger pattern of poor judgment and unacceptable behavior,” he said. “I am sorry, and I have learned from this. As I have stated, the Board is the process of engaging a law firm to review our handling of this situation.” [Photo Credit: Stephen Voss/NPR]
