A lot of people might not have been aware that former Boston.com staffer, Hilary Sargent, accused Globe editor Brian McGrory of sexual harassment this week. That’s because the accusation appeared on Twitter and got very little media attention except from WGBH News, Turtleboy Sports and WEEI. But today the story appeared on the front page of the Globe itself, complete with a statement from Brian McGrory and a counter-statement from Sargent.
Sargent has been building a head of steam since last fall when the #MeToo movement took off. At the time, she suggested that the Globe should look at itself when it comes to reporting the issue. Then when they finally did a piece about harassment in the media, without naming a Globe reporter who was let go, Sargent was indignant. She wrote to Globe president Vinay Mehra and says she tried to tell Linda Pizzuti Henry, the Globe’s managing director, that the paper has a problem and that people still on staff are guilty of harassment and maybe worse.
But it was not until this week that Sargent named Brian McGrory as one of the accused harassers. In a tweet, she attached a text message exchange between herself and someone she identifies as McGrory. She is asking for writing advice and he then chimes in asking what she wears when she writes. A follow-up tweet suggests that by women like Sargent going public, men will stop doing things like this.
Sargent has been asked by Globe attorneys to hand over further information about the text, and we don’t yet know whether Sargent has complied. Pizzuti Henry and Mehra issued a joint statement, saying they were unable to ascertain the date and timing of the text and “expect to have resolution on this matter soon.” But then Globe reporter Marc Arsenault was assigned to write about the whole matter. With that as a backdrop, Brian McGrory sent a memo to staff, stating, “I have never harassed Hilary Sargent or any other woman at the Globe or anywhere else. I don’t believe I have ever acted inappropriately with anyone at this company.”
In Arsenault’s article, Sargent is quoted as saying, “If Brian McGrory truly does not believe he has ever acted inappropriately with anyone at The Boston Globe, then he and I have a remarkably different understanding of what is, and is not, appropriate.”
Also in his note to staff, McGrory says he urged Globe management to smoke out the full context of his text any way possible. And apparently one of those ways is a lawsuit. When she left the Globe in 2016, Sargent signed a document essentially saying she would turn over any materials relating to a Globe probe when, or if, asked. As of this writing, a lawsuit has not been filed, but it was drafted. And Sargent is back on Twitter writing this morning “With the @BostonGlobe threatening a lawsuit, I will only say this. This isn’t about one text. This isn’t just about him. And this isn’t about just me. I’m horrified that the newspaper that purports to shine a ‘Spotlight’ is doing everything in their power to do just the opposite.”
Sargent received a letter on Thursday afternoon from Brian McGrory’s personal attorney saying that Sargent has defamed McGrory and asking her to once again release the text message in question. The letter can be read
here.