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Time In Court: Closed-door meetings have been held between execs at The Daily Mail US following a bombshell lawsuit alleging incidents of gender discrimination and sexual harassment at its New York bureau. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Welcome to the latest edition of Breaker. If this email has been forwarded, you can subscribe here and send your questions and complaints here. If you have a tip contact the 24/7 Breaker Tip Hotline via text or Signal # 551 655 2343. Anonymity guaranteed!
In tonight’s edition, The Daily Mail’s U.S. operation is in a state of utter turmoil following a lawsuit that was filed on Thursday. One female staffer is suing the paper and two of its editorial team for “severe, and pervasive gender discrimination, sexual harassment, a hostile work environment, and retaliation.” Breaker has all the details on what led to the allegations, including a literal “smear campaign” as female staffers grew frustrated at management’s refusal to act against sexual harassment in the workplace.
Also, tonight the Breaker Pod is back, and this week we scored a twofer with Laura Brown and Kristina O'Neill joining the podcast. We chatted about their journey from unemployed to independent media magnates with “All the Cool Girls Get Fired.” We also squeezed them on who they think should be the new editor of T Magazine and who eventually succeeds Anna Wintour.
Finally, it’s Thursday, which means Journo Jobs is back, but as the media industry continues to consolidate and more journos make the leap to “the dark side,” we are going to start including communications jobs in our Thursday evening fixture. Tonight we have great opportunities at the FT, The Atlantic, CNN, NYT, ESPN, Semafor & The Baffler (guess which is the flack gig?).
Mentioned tonight: Anna Wintour, Roger Lynch, David Remnick, Graydon Carter, Chloe Malle, Harrison Vail, Rickie De Sole, Nick Haramis, Mathias Döpfner, Emma Tucker, Jamie Heller, Matt Murray, Peter Kafka, Soo-Jeong Kang, Dan Jones, Richard Ellis, Rosemarie Arnold, Marianne Garvey, Katie Davies, Danny Groom, Byron Allen, Michael Savage, Adam Boulton, Tony Dokoupil, Maxi Tani, Ken Bensinger, Kyle Chayka, Alex Sherman, Joe Flint, John Koblin, Nick Bryant, Ross Barkan, Parker Molloy, Adam O’Neal, Jeff Bezos, Jason Koebler, Nicholas Kristof, Natalie Korach, John Herrman, Lionel Barber, Alan Rusbridger, Brian Steinberg, Matt Donnelly, Isabella Simonetti, Max Crespo, and more.
The Breaker Pod with Laura Brown and Kristina O'Neill: That Time They Were Fired, Who Will Run T Magazine, and the Future of Media
This week, Breaker sat down with editrix extraordinaires Laura Brown and Kristina O'Neill, two veterans of the mag world who have transformed the shame that comes with being “billboard fired” into a bestselling book, a podcast, and now, a whole media franchise.
We were perched in the best window seat at Sweet Linda — the site of the infamous Breaker birthday bash in March (Cheers to the owner, Max Crespo, for inviting us).
The pair joined to discuss “All the Cool Girls Get Fired”, their book-turned-media venture born out of their exits from some of the most coveted jobs in magazine publishing. Brown was ousted from her role as InStyle’s editor-in-chief in 2022, and O’Neill from her position as WSJ Magazine’s editor-in-chief just a year later.
When O’Neill’s first meeting with new Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker was moved from Tucker’s…
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⁘ As credited in The New York Times, CNBC, Axios, The New York Post, CNN, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and more.
(Exclusive.) On Wednesday at The Daily Mail’s Astor Place newsroom, Publisher and CEO of parent company DMG Media Danny Groom, who had flown in from London, was seen holding close-door meetings with U.S. Editor-In-Chief Katie Davies and Managing Editor Richard Ellis.
Just hours later, a bombshell lawsuit would be filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, accusing the Mail and two top male employees (including Ellis) of “severe, and pervasive gender discrimination, sexual harassment, a hostile work environment, and retaliation.”
According to court documents obtained and reviewed by Breaker, Real Estate Reporter Marianne Garvey is suing Money & Commerce Editor Daniel Jones, Ellis, and the Daily Mail over a series of disturbing workplace incidents.
Garvey, who has been at The Daily Mail for just over 12 months, says that within weeks of being hired, she “was warned by three female coworkers that Defendant Jones is abusive and hostile towards female employees.”
According to the documents, she wouldn't have to wait long to see it for herself.
In the first week of March 2025 (Garvey began on Feb 24th 2025), Garvey says she was witness to hostile and intimidating behaviour towards female employees, including “shouting at female colleagues and subordinates, banging on his keyboard and desk, leaping out of his chair.” Jones, a former News of the World journalist, was also known to loudly and openly call his female employees “assholes”, often driving them to tears.
The document alleges the Brit was widely known to disrespect women within the organisation. This includes allegations that at the Daily Mail 2025 Holiday Party, photographs were taken of Jones “groping” a female, which were later circulated around the newsroom, “which further exacerbated the discomfort felt by female employees.”
The lawsuit alleges that it was widely accepted that The Daily Mail was willing to turn a blind eye to any complaint about Jones from a female employee. Following a complaint, the female staff would simply be moved within the office, with no direct disciplinary action taken against Jones.
Feeling unheard by management, the documents allege that female staff began taking matters into their own hands. A month after arriving at The Daily Mail, Garvey was witness to a shocking workplace protest.
“She noticed that women were periodically defecating in the bathroom on top of toilet seats and smearing poop onto the walls. Plaintiff’s colleagues informed her that women were performing these grotesque acts to …
Support fearless independent journalism.
The rest of this newsletter is for paid subscribers.
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⁘ As credited in The New York Times, CNBC, Axios, The New York Post, CNN, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and more.