NEW YORK — The publisher of The New Republic, Hamilton Fish, has resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment.

The magazine’s owner, Win McCormack, wrote in a company memo Friday that Fish’s resignation was effective immediately and that an internal investigation would continue.

Fish, a former publisher of The Nation who joined The New Republic in 2016, has been placed on a leave of absence.

‘‘As I understand it, some employees, to my deep dismay, complained this week that my presence had led them to feel uncomfortable at The New Republic,’’ Fish wrote to McCormack in a memo Friday.

‘‘Women have longstanding and profound concerns with respect to their treatment in the workplace,’’ he said. “Many men have a lot to learn in this regard. I know I do, and I hope for and encourage that new direction.’’

Fish wrote in an e-mail to the Associated Press that he ‘‘felt the controversy swirling around us could cause irreparable harm to the magazine, and that the only way to protect The New Republic and its employees was for me to separate from the organization.’’

Noting his time with such organizations as The Nation, a prominent liberal publication, and with Human Rights Watch, he wrote that he had spent his career in ‘‘in progressive media and the human rights field.

‘‘I've worked to recruit women to address gender equity and imbalance in the workplace, and have promoted women to leadership positions in the organizations I have been responsible for,’’ Fish wrote.

‘‘Though I have not been informed of the nature of the complaints, it has been especially painful for me to learn that some TNR employees have grievances as a result of my actions,’’ he said.

Fish is among a wave of celebrities and media figures stepping down or being fired since reports in October of alleged harassment and assault by Harvey Weinstein.

Others departing include author and former NBC analyst Mark Halperin, former New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier, and former NPR chief editor Michael Oreskes, who was an AP executive from 2008 to 2015.

More than 100 employees of the Associated Press petitioned the company’s management on Friday, asking if any sexual harassment complaints had been made against Oreskes while he was employed there.

Oreskes was ousted this week as newsroom chief of National Public Radio after reports of improprieties when he worked at The New York Times in the 1990s and later at NPR.

The AP has not said whether anyone has complained about Oreskes at the news agency. Jessica Bruce, senior vice president, said there have been ‘‘no written agreements, payments, or settlements of any kind’’ made with anyone in connection with his behavior.