This reporting is featured in this week’s edition of Confider, the newsletter pulling back the curtain on the media. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.
The New York Times has brought in an outside law firm to investigate new complaints against one of their star reporters, Confider has learned.
Jesse McKinley, the paper’s former Albany Bureau Chief, has been accused of inappropriate behavior by a former top aide to ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
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In her new book What’s Left Unsaid, Melissa DeRosa writes that during a pandemic-era meeting in McKinley’s backyard, he drank more than a bottle of wine before attempting to hit on her when she tried to leave.
After McKinley inquired about her eye color, DeRosa said he grabbed her on the wrist as she attempted to walk away. “Don’t go, Melissa. It’s still early. Stay longer,” he said as he pulled her towards him, according to the book.
She says McKinley held on to her for a few seconds more until she was able to grab her belongings and leave.
The Washington Post’s Eric Wemple first reported on the incident last week and found other instances of alleged inappropriate behavior. That has prompted Times brass to launch its second probe into McKinley after an initial probe in 2021 looked into a complaint from DeRosa.
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“The question that still remains unanswered is how The New York Times who was the driver of the Me Too movement and specifically the Me Too moves against Andrew Cuomo could determine that the governor putting his hands on a woman’s face at a wedding is a front page offense but yet when something much worse was brought to their attention in their own house they did nothing about it,” DeRosa told Confider, adding that she told Times journalist Nick Confessore about the incident around the time it happened in 2020.
“When Nick informed [Managing Editor] Carolyn Ryan to the extent that there was a situation with their Albany bureau chief, why did she do nothing at all? I think the entire situation underscores the hypocrisy of The New York Times.”
But the Times says it was not clear DeRosa was making a complaint when she spoke with Confessore.
“A complaint was made against Jesse McKinley, a New York Times journalist in 2021. An independent, external investigation did not substantiate Ms. DeRosa’s characterization of the events, and McKinley denied the accusation that he grabbed her in any way,” a rep for the Times told Confider. “We take all allegations very seriously and are reviewing the new accounts.”
McKinley did not respond to a request for comment.
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