WNYC’s ‘On the Media’ co-host Bob Garfield fired

Bob Garfield, co-host of the WNYC radio show “On the Media” for the past two decades, has been fired by New York Public Radio.

“New York Public Radio has terminated the employment of Bob Garfield … as a result of a pattern of behavior that violated NYPR’s anti-bullying policy,” the company said in a statement posted to its website. “This decision was made following a recent investigation conducted by an outside investigator that found that he had violated the policy.”

The firing came after an outside investigation into a recent incident as well as “an investigation in 2020, which also found that he had violated the policy, and which resulted in disciplinary action, a warning about the potential consequences if the behavior continued, and a meaningful opportunity to correct it.”

Garfield could not be reached for comment by The Hill, but he told The New York Times that he had yelled during meetings with WNYC colleagues.

“I was fired not for ‘bullying’ per se but for yelling at two meetings,” he said in an email to the Times. “In both cases, as will be clear eventually, the provocation was extraordinary and simply shocking.”

The 2020 investigation, he added, was about a yelling incident that “involved gross insubordination under production pressure.”

“In time, the full story will emerge … and it is really scary,” Garfield said. “This is tragic.”

The most recent incarnation of “On the Media” was launched in 2001, and Garfield has co-hosted the show for the past 20 years. The show is carried by 421 public radio stations and will continue to be hosted by managing editor Brooke Gladstone, WNYC said.

In 2018, an internal investigation revealed incidents of bullying and harassment at New York Public Radio and its station WNYC but not systemic discrimination, the Times reported.