Charlie Rose’s Journalism Awards Revoked After Sexual-Harassment Claims

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A growing number of former employees at PBS and CBS have continued to come forward this week to reveal alleged incidents of sexual harassment and misconduct perpetrated by journalist Charlie Rose. Rose has since lost his job at CBS News following the accusations, and will now lose two professional awards as well. According to Variety, Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications announced on Friday that it would be rescinding the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism Rose received in 2015. “This unprecedented action is taken with the utmost seriousness and deliberation. We are not in the business of trying to rewrite history. When new information about a recipient surfaces, the question we ask is not whether the award would be given again with a new set of facts, but whether the transgressions are so egregious that they demand nothing less than a reversal of history,” the school’s dean, Christopher Callahan, said in a statement. “I believe Mr. Rose’s actions of sexual misconduct reported by The Washington Post and other media outlets, which are largely unrefuted, rise to that level.” Concluded the statement, “We hope to send an unequivocal message that what Mr. Rose did is unacceptable, and that such behavior — far too common in not just media companies but many organizations — must stop.”

Meanwhile, a foundation associated with University of Kansas’s School of Journalism seemingly arrived at the same conclusion, announcing Friday that the William Allen White Foundation would be revoking the newsman’s National Citation Award, which he received in April 2017. “After recent reports detailed sexual harassment and a pattern of unprofessional behavior by Rose during his career, the William Allen White Foundation decided that Rose does not exemplify the ideals of this award,” they said in a statement. Rose issued an apology via Twitter Monday after allegations began to surface, but added his own caveat as to the validity of the claims. “It is essential that these women know I hear them and that I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior. I am greatly embarrassed,” Rose said in part. “I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate.”

Two Journalism Schools Revoke Awards Given to Charlie Rose