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Former Los Angeles Times Beijing Bureau Chief Has Resigned
19 Sep, 2018 / 12:14 pm / Reeny Joseph

Source: http://www.omnesmedia.com

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Jonathan Kaiman, the ex Bureau chief of The Los Angeles Times in Beijing has resigned amid accusations of sexual misconduct. The journalist, Jonathan Kaiman, was suspended in May after accusations were made against him by two women. Hillary Manning, director of communications for The Times, confirmed Mr. Kaiman’s resignation in an email.

Felicia Sonmez, a fellow journalist in Beijing, accused Mr. Kaiman in May of “problematic behavior” in a letter addressed to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China. Kaiman was president of the club until January.

She was the second woman to come forward with accusations against Mr. Kaiman. In January, a law student and former housemate of Mr. Kaiman, Laura Tucker, accused him of pressuring her into a sexual encounter after a night of drinking.

The accusations by both women shook Beijing’s tight-knit community of foreign correspondents and shone a light on the sometimes bad behavior of male reporters abroad. It also came amid a broader wave of accusations of sexual harassment, mainly made by women against high-profile media figures including Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood producer, and Bill O’Reilly, the former Fox News host.

“The phenomenon is not a problem unique to the press, but it’s one that’s especially problematic for journalists,” Joanna Chiu, a reporter based in Beijing at the time, wrote in an article soon after Ms. Sonmez’s accusations against Mr. Kaiman were made public.

Sonmez said that she was grateful to The Los Angeles Times for taking her allegations seriously but added that “several questions remained unanswered” about whether Kaiman was fired or resigned voluntarily.

“The voices of women are a crucial part of the equation when it comes to combating sexual misconduct. But the response of institutions is another essential part,” Sonmez wrote in an emailed statement.