Vice Media reportedly settled 4 sexual harassment, defamation cases against employees
Vice Media may be hailed as millennial digital-media darling covering edgy, hip topics, but its workplace culture is out-dated and rotten, according to a damning New York Times investigation published Saturday.
The investigation uncovered four settlements for alleged sexual harassment and defamation against the Brooklyn-based media company's employees — including its president, Andrew Creighton.
The allegations include unwanted sexual advances, forced kissing and groping from the former head of Vice News, and a retaliatory firing after a woman rejected a relationship with Vice's president Creighton.
A settlement in 2016 was reached for $135,000 with Creighton.
Another settlement for defamation came in 2003 for $25,000 when a former employee had an article include fabricated material about having sex with her interview subject, a rapper.
The New York Times spoke with 100 former and current Vice employees for the story, and beyond the settlement cases, found more than 24 other women in their 20s and 30s who said they'd experienced or seen inappropriate sexual behavior at Vice. Many broke confidentiality agreements to speak about their experiences.
"We have failed as a company to create a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone, especially women, can feel respected and thrive."
Three employees were fired in late November following a Daily Beast article about pervasive sexual misconduct.
One of the women who reported being groped at a Vice party shared more after the NYT story was published. She posted about the long-lasting impact of the harassment and how the company failed handling it.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
A note to employees from co-founders Suroosh Alvi and Shane Smith, went out early Saturday. In it the founders admit, "We have failed as a company to create a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone, especially women, can feel respected and thrive." They addressed the company's "'boy’s club' culture that fostered inappropriate behavior that permeated throughout the company."
The founders also listed steps the company is taking to improve its workplace culture and salvage its failure support current and former employees. Some of those steps include building out an advisory board with big names like feminist activist Gloria Steinem and former Vice Media COO Alyssa Mastromonaco, attempting gender pay parity by the end of 2018, and expanding parental leave policies.
Emily Steel's Times investigation into sexual harassment at the company was anticipated for weeks and finally dropped only a few months after the Times' eye-opening and culture-shifting report about predatory producer Harvey Weinstein.
Only moments after the Vice story was released online, comments flooded in about the allegations and company culture and structure.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
