Journalists Face Allegations Of Sexual Harrassment

James Rosen

James Rosen, a veteran Fox News correspondent, and Joel Achenbach, a longtime writer at The Washington Post, have left their positions under scrutiny for inappropriate behavior with female colleagues, according to USAToday citing two news reports.

Rosen, Fox's former Washington bureau chief and an 18-year employee, left the network in late December without the journalist or his network explaining why.

An NPR report Wednesday, which was based on interviews with eight of Rosen's former Washington, D.C., colleagues, says his departure was the result of an inquiry into "an established pattern of flirting aggressively with many peers" and sexual advances toward three female Fox News journalists.

Among the anecdotes mentioned, Rosen allegedly grabbed the breast of a colleague during a cab ride in the winter of 2001, the NPR report said, citing four unnamed Fox colleagues who told NPR the female reporter had relayed the incident as a warning. When Rosen's younger colleague rebuffed his advances, Rosen sought to "steal away her sources and stories related to his interests in diplomacy and national security," the report said.

Joel Achenbach

Late last spring, Rosen tried to forcibly kiss a young female reporter, the article says, citing colleagues the reporter had told. After she rejected him, Rosen asked her to keep the approach quiet and offered to help get her air-time on a Fox News show in exchange for her silence, according to the report.

A Fox spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rosen declined to comment to NPR about the accusations.

The details of Achenbach's transgressions weren't disclosed. But they were enough to land the reporter, who joined the Post in 1990 and currently focuses on science, a 90-day suspension after interviews with the journalist and some of his colleagues found evidence of "inappropriate workplace conduct."

Achenbach said in his own statement to the Post that he had "said and done things that were unprofessional, and I apologize to the women affected by this and acknowledge their courage in speaking out.”