Suit Charges 'New York Post' With Discrimination

Did you hear the news? The New York Post, News Corp.'s scrappy, money-losing tabloid, is a hotbed of sexual and racial harassment where editor Col Allan feted visiting Australian political leaders at the "gentlemen's club" Scores, and another unnamed editor offered a female assistant a permanent reporter job in exchange for a sexual favor rarely seen in a newsroom but familiar to at least one former president of the United States.

All of this and more—much, much more—is being alleged in lawsuit filed in United States District Court against News Corp., the Post, and Allan by Sandra Guzman, an editor fired earlier this year. (The Huffington Post's Sam Stein posted the suit and broke out several examples.)

Guzman claims she was fired from the paper after complaining about a political cartoon by Sean Delonas depicting a white police officer shooting a chimpanzee as another officer says, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill." Many interpreted the cartoon, which ran in February, as a crude, racist dig at President Barack Obama. (Not to mention a veiled joke about political assassination.) The paper came under so much pressure, it was forced to explain the cartoon in an editorial that stated, "This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize."

In her complaint, Guzman states, "Known for its often sensational headlines, the New York Post is one of the largest newspapers in the country, and it is read by people all over the world. However, behind the trumpeted headlines and within the four walls of the Post exists a hostile work environment where female employees and employees of color have been subjected to pervasive and systemic discrimination and/or unlawful harassment based on their gender, race, color and/or national origin."

It's not just within the paper's "four walls." One need only look to covers like the one from June 27, 2007 reporting Paris Hilton's release from prison under the headline "V-D DAY! Paris Liberated, Bimbos Rejoice" or its reporters' constant harping on the looks and sex appeal of their subjects. Far from an aberration, uncouth behavior is essential to the Post's image.

The most damning parts of the lawsuit are the description of Col Allan's behavior, including showing female employees a photo of a naked man and an incident in which he "approached a female employee during a party at the Post, rubbed his penis up against her, and made sexually suggestive comments about her body, including about her breasts, causing that female employee to feel extremely uncomfortable and fearing to be alone with him."

Of course, that's all alleged at this point, but Allan's trip to Scores was gleefully reported by the Post's rivals at the New York Daily News in 2007 under the headline "It's Page Sex!" The story also got a lot of play in Allan's native Australia, eventually leading to (what else?) a New York magazine profile by former Daily News columnist (and onetime Portfolio.com writer) Lloyd Grove, who wrote, "At the Post, the party is slightly out of control, which is part of the fun, both for readers and reporters. The paper is aggressive, uninhibited, unpredictable, prone to anger and sometimes juvenile comedy in equal measure. Heroic consumption of alcohol has long been a part of this equation, but even in this tradition Allan stands out."

"We like being pirates," Allan told Grove at the time, "We don’t like conforming. There’s a broader culture within the company that encourages creativity, encourages freedom."

Now it's up to the courts to decide if that "creativity" and "freedom" created a hostile working environment for Guzman and others. The specific damages sought are not known at this time, but one thing's for sure: This is probably one story News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch wishes he could truly hide from Google.