Newsweek Reinstates Chief Content Officer After Sexual Harassment Investigation

“Dayan Candappa will be returning to his role as Chief Content Officer on Monday February 12th,” the email reads

Dayan Candappa
C-Span

Newsweek has reinstated Dayan Candappa as Chief Content Officer following an investigation into accusations of sexual harassment stemming from his time as an editor at Reuters.

In an email sent to staffers on Friday, the company said that after a “thorough investigation,” an independent law firm “did not find evidence to substantiate the reported allegations of sexual harassment during his tenure with his previous employer.”

In addition, the email said, “the investigation found that Candappa has conducted himself in a professional manner at Newsweek Media Group.”

Candappa, who will return to work on Monday, was placed on leave late last month after BuzzFeed published an article that he had been dismissed from his previous job as an editor at Reuters after accusations of sexually harassing subordinates.

“The newsroom is horrified and it feels like another untenable blow,” a current Newsweek employee tells TheWrap

He was hired by Newsweek in 2016 several months after leaving Reuters, despite warnings from Newsweek staffers familiar with details of Candappa’s departure, BuzzFeed reported.

According to the BuzzFeed report, Candappa was accused of telling a female subordinate in 2015 that it would help her career if she agreed to his sexual advances, and “it would not be good” if she declined.

The woman also said Candappa arranged for them to be in the same city for work-related travel, and out of fear for her job, she’d meet him for drinks and dinner, as TheWrap reported.

Shortly after the story broke, Newsweek announced that Candappa has been placed “on leave.”

“Newsweek Media Group has put chief content officer Dayan Candappa on leave while the company conducts an independent investigation,” the company told TheWrap at the time. “Our company has a zero tolerance policy for any form of harassment. We will treat any report seriously and if necessary take appropriate action.”

Reps for Newsweek did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

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