A high-level reporter at the New York Times inadvertently flashed her colleagues during a Thursday morning Zoom call, prompting an editor leading the online gathering to scramble and remove her from the meeting, according to The Messenger.
The female reporter, who has not been named, did not realize her camera was on when she appeared on her colleagues’ video screens during morning deliberations with the paper’s editors. A person familiar with the meeting told The Messenger that the full-frontal did not appear to be intentional.
The Times has not yet acknowledged the incident or issued a statement.
New York Times staffer accidentally flashes her colleagues on Zoom call https://t.co/vfxyqPdTRB
— The Messenger (@TheMessenger) December 8, 2023
During the pandemic, online meetings became a staple of corporate industry as employees huddled at home while churning out their responsibilities and checking in with superiors. Though the latest incident is not the first involving members of the mainstream media, it seems to be the first involving a senior reporter.
In October 2020, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin was fired after being caught on camera masturbating following a work meeting, an escapade that garnered global attention and led the Emmy Award-winning reporter to issue a public apology. He returned eight months later, telling viewers in his debut that his actions were “deeply moronic and indefensible” but less than two years later announced his retirement from the network.
Bad behavior by reporters has also seeped into the world of on-camera glitterati. On Wednesday an anchor with the BBC was caught giving the middle finger to the camera before realizing she was on-air, quickly composing herself with, “Live from London, this is BBC News,” according to Fox News.
Don Lemon, the infamously combative and mercurial former anchor at CNN, lost his 17-year gig after allegations of misogyny and misbehavior caught up with him. He survived past mishaps, including taking a body shot of alcohol live on TV and hurling expletives during the network’s New Year’s Eve broadcast. He followed former colleague Chris Cuomo out the door after it was discovered that he was helping his brother, then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, during a scandal alleging he was harassing female members of his staff.