THE ATTORNEY FOR former Boston.com staffer Hilary Sargent said on Monday that his client sat down for five hours with an investigator hired by the Boston Globe and laid out her claims of inappropriate sexual conduct by Brian McGrory, the paper’s editor, and others.
“Today, my client spent more than five hours sharing with the Boston Globe’s investigator the details of her experience, something she has been trying to do for eight months,” Jack Siegal, Sargent’s attorney, said in an emailed statement. “Women who speak out about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace shouldn’t be ignored, silenced, slandered, or sued. We hope The Globe will make the right decision going forward.”
The meeting came after the Globe sued Sargent following a post she made on Twitter that included a sexually suggestive text she said came from McGrory. Sargent initially indicated the text came while she was working at Boston.com, but in an affidavit filed in connection with the suit she said she was unsure when the text was sent but her lawyer filed a brief that said it likely was not during that time. She said in the affidavit that the text was “merely an example of the nature of messages McGrory sent me during the time I was employed at the Globe, which I believe are inappropriate and sexually suggestive.”
A Globe spokeswoman confirmed the meeting but would not provide details.
“We can confirm and appreciate that Ms. Sargent met with our outside investigator today,” Jane Bowman said in an email.
McGrory’s attorney, Martin Murphy, emailed a statement Monday night saying his client “has been and will continue to be fully cooperative with the Globe’s review.”
Sargent began posting angry tweets about sexual harassment at the Globe last fall after the paper’s State House reporter was forced to quit following revelations he sent inappropriate sexual messages to two women who work on Beacon Hill as well as a young Globe staffer. Many of Sargent’s messages invited Globe officials to contact her about her experiences and her concerns about inappropriate sexual conduct at the paper. Sargent also sent emails to Globe owner John Henry and president Vinay Mehra asking to talk to them. She said she never received a reply from either executive.
In May, Sargent posted a tweet that included a screen grab of a conversation she was allegedly having with an unnamed person about a writing project when the person asked, “What do you generally wear when you write?” Sargent responded, “Seriously?”
A day later, she identified McGrory as the sender of the text, which he denied having any knowledge of, and the Globe filed suit, seeking more information and claiming she was not cooperating in violation of a separation agreement she signed when she left Boston.com after a two-year run as an editor and reporter for the site.
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Senior Investigative Reporter, CommonWealth
About Jack Sullivan
Jack Sullivan is now retired. A veteran of the Boston newspaper scene for nearly three decades. Prior to joining CommonWealth, he was editorial page editor of The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, a part of the GateHouse Media chain. Prior to that he was news editor at another GateHouse paper, The Enterprise of Brockton, and also was city edition editor at the Ledger. Jack was an investigative and enterprise reporter and executive city editor at the Boston Herald and a reporter at The Boston Globe.
He has reported stories such as the federal investigation into the Teamsters, the workings of the Yawkey Trust and sale of the Red Sox, organized crime, the church sex abuse scandal and the September 11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the State House, state and local politics, K-16 education, courts, crime, and general assignment.
Jack received the New England Press Association award for investigative reporting for a series on unused properties owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and shared the association's award for business for his reporting on the sale of the Boston Red Sox. As the Ledger editorial page editor, he won second place in 2007 for editorial writing from the Inland Press Association, the nation's oldest national journalism association of nearly 900 newspapers as members.
At CommonWealth, Jack and editor Bruce Mohl won first place for In-Depth Reporting from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors for a look at special education funding in Massachusetts. The same organization also awarded first place to a unique collaboration between WFXT-TV (FOX25) and CommonWealth for a series of stories on the Boston Redevelopment Authority and city employees getting affordable housing units, written by Jack and Bruce.
About Jack Sullivan
Jack Sullivan is now retired. A veteran of the Boston newspaper scene for nearly three decades. Prior to joining CommonWealth, he was editorial page editor of The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, a part of the GateHouse Media chain. Prior to that he was news editor at another GateHouse paper, The Enterprise of Brockton, and also was city edition editor at the Ledger. Jack was an investigative and enterprise reporter and executive city editor at the Boston Herald and a reporter at The Boston Globe.
He has reported stories such as the federal investigation into the Teamsters, the workings of the Yawkey Trust and sale of the Red Sox, organized crime, the church sex abuse scandal and the September 11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the State House, state and local politics, K-16 education, courts, crime, and general assignment.
Jack received the New England Press Association award for investigative reporting for a series on unused properties owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and shared the association's award for business for his reporting on the sale of the Boston Red Sox. As the Ledger editorial page editor, he won second place in 2007 for editorial writing from the Inland Press Association, the nation's oldest national journalism association of nearly 900 newspapers as members.
At CommonWealth, Jack and editor Bruce Mohl won first place for In-Depth Reporting from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors for a look at special education funding in Massachusetts. The same organization also awarded first place to a unique collaboration between WFXT-TV (FOX25) and CommonWealth for a series of stories on the Boston Redevelopment Authority and city employees getting affordable housing units, written by Jack and Bruce.
The
Globe withdrew its suit after the judge urged the two sides to compromise, indicating she was unlikely to grant the
Globe its request for an injunction.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the meeting was a result of a compromise when the Globe withdrew its suit. The suit was dropped unconditionally with no quid pro quo.
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