Mike Rosenberg, the Seattle Times real estate reporter who was suspended last month after sending unsolicited sexually explicit messages to a New York-based writer named Talia Jane, has resigned, The C Is for Crank has learned. (Update at 11:20am: The Times has confirmed Rosenberg’s resignation; statement below). The news went out to Times staffers in an email yesterday, which reportedly included no additional details such as whether Rosenberg had been asked to leave or information about an investigation the Times said it was undertaking back in May.
On May 5, Jane posted a thread about Rosenberg’s messages, which began as banal encouragement and career advice and escalated into a series of increasingly inappropriate come-ons (3:10am: “Anyway you’re so beautiful”; 3:13am: “Anyway you are hilarious”), culminating in a message at 3:55am that read, “there is so much cum on your face.” (Jane apparently stopped responding around 2:56 am, with a message about the media environment in New York.) After Jane said she was going to take the messages public, Rosenberg responded, further screen shots show, by claiming that the DMs weren’t intended for Jane, then offering to donate to the National Organization for Women in exchange for her silence.
“Being a woman is totally normal and very cool,” Jane wrote.
Lindsay Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Times, confirmed that Rosenberg has resigned. ” As referenced in our previous comment, we did initiate and complete an investigation into this matter. We are not disclosing details of those findings as it is a personnel matter handled directly by our human resources group,” Taylor said. “As to our efforts regarding sexual harassment in the workplace, we are, as we have always been, committed to fostering a respectful workplace. The behavior of one individual among our more than 600 employees is not reflective of our culture. We have continued to invest in training and elevate awareness of our employee assistance program for counseling consultations as needed. We will continue to be responsive to employee needs around this issue.”