Newsweek Fires Staff Who Covered Probe Into Mag's Owners: Reports

NEW YORK, NY — Newsweek on Monday fired two reporters and two top editors who had covered the Manhattan district attorney's investigation into the struggling magazine.

Newsweek's parent company, Newsweek Media Group, axed editor-in-chief Bob Roe and executive news director Ken Li, according to an email the company sent to staffers Monday afternoon. Newsweek reporters Celeste Katz and Josh Saul were also fired, according to The Daily Beast.

Josh Keefe, a reporter for the Newsweek Media-owned International Business Times, tweeted that he had not been fired, as several news reports had said. But Keefe said his dismissal "was very clearly the plan."

All five staffers had been involved in coverage of recent turmoil at the company, including Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.'s 18-month investigation that reportedly focused on possible financial irregularities.

Nancy Cooper, the International Business Times' managing editor, was named Newsweek's acting editor in the company's email to staff.

News Director Cristina Silva announced the firings at a staff meeting Monday morning, then told remaining employees to go home for the day, according to The Daily Beast.

Reporters were told to stop working and are not writing new stories, a source familiar with the situation told Patch. International Business Times staffers also weren't paid on time Monday, but were told they would receive payment in the afternoon, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.

"My warmest thanks to the brave Newsweek editors and colleagues who supported and shared in my work — especially our recent, difficult stories about the magazine itself — before my dismissal today," Katz tweeted Monday afternoon. "I’ll sleep well tonight... and I’m looking for a job!"

Matthew Cooper, a senior Newsweek writer, also resigned Monday, saying he had never "seen more reckless leadership," CNN reported.

"What a day to leave my charger at home," Li tweeted Monday after the firings were reported. Roe confirmed to CNN that he was fired.

In response to an email from Patch, Newsweek Media Group said it "does not comment on personnel matters."

Katz and Saul authored a Jan. 18 story, which quoted Roe, about a raid of the company's Financial District offices by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.'s investigators. Agents reportedly examined Newsweek's computer servers for hours and took 18 servers out of the building.

The district attorney's probe is focused on possible money laundering involving a "money trail" between Newsweek Media Group and Olivet University, a conservative Christian school in San Francisco with ties to former Newsweek executives, the New York Post reported last month. Investigators are also examining loans the company took out to buy those servers, Katz and Saul reported.

Katz, Saul and Keefe also reported last week that Etienne Uzac, Newsweek Media Group's chairman and co-founder, stepped down alongside Marion Kim, Uzac's wife and the company's finance director.

Li and Roe were "closely involved in the editing" of stories about Dayan Candappa, who became Newsweek's chief content officer after he was forced to leave Reuters amid sexual harassment allegations, the New York Daily News reported. Candappa reportedly took a leave of absence last week.

Newsweek Media's email to staff said Johnathan Davis would serve as interim chief content officer, returning the company's other co-founder to his old job. Davis and Uzac both reportedly have connections to Olivet University and its founder, the controversial evangelical Christian pastor David Jang.

Newsweek has become "a hostile environment" in recent months, leaving some reporters questioning whether they want to stay, the source familiar with the situation said. BuzzFeed reports last week revaling Candappa's past and that Newsweek Media Group paid for web traffic put the staff even more on edge, the source said.

"Leadership don’t know what’s going on," the person said. "They’re more concerned about getting clicks and pushing out these clickbait stories than worrying about their writers."

(Lead image: A copy of Newsweek sits on a rack in 2012. Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)