Seems incontrovertible at this point that Fox News network has a big problem with sexual harassment. Also, it is clear that it has been going on since the beginning. Roger Ailes, the network’s powerful Chief Executive and founder resigned last year following a maelstrom of sexual harassment suits and allegations, some of which have been settled while new ones have been filed. As of now, more than 2 dozen women have accused the former media don of sexual harassment taking place over the last three decades.
Allegations and rumors had been going on for so long that Ailes’ behavior was considered common knowledge. But it wasn’t until Gretchen Carlson, former anchor of Fox & Friends filed a lawsuit, that the owners of the network, the Murdoch family, stepped in and initiated an investigation. Carlson had recorded conversations with Ailes for over a year providing clear evidence of the ongoing harassment. That investigation resulted in the Ailes resignation. But by that time countless women had suffered as a result of a culture steeped in intimidation, entitlement, indecency, misogyny and grotesque abuses of power. Carlson and her lawyer sued Ailes personally to circumvent a clause in employment agreements at Fox that stipulated that employment disputes be resolved in private arbitration.
Of course, that culture led to the exodus of many talented women. The network’s top-rated female anchor, Megyn Kelly, left Fox News for NBC earlier this year after she alleged in her memoir that Ailes made unwanted sexual advances toward her. Greta Van Susteren also left the network after Ailes’ departure; her refreshingly unremarkable hairstyle and pantsuits stood out from the tight dresses and long locks of most of the women of Fox News. This was allowed to go on so long, taking a toll on so many women because Fox News was by now the number one cable news network and Ailes was viewed as the primary architect - untouchable and unassailable in his role. Single-handedly able to make or destroy careers. The fact that these incidents of harassment were so common may have contributed to why no one at Fox came forward or filed a lawsuit until now. It was hard to complain about something that was so normalized.
It took the unbelievable courage and cunning of a few women willing to stand up to the bullying to break through and shine the antiseptic light of publicity on the fetid culture eating away at Fox News. To do so meant standing up to intimidation, denials from Ailes and his supporters at Fox and threats of countersuits.
But signs that the women’s efforts are making a difference are adding up. Ailes is gone (albeit with a $40 M payout and a nominal title of “Advisor”). After the New York Times recently reported that host Bill O’Reilly and 21st Century Fox had paid out $13 million to five women in exchange for their silence on allegations of sexual harassment, 60 advertisers pulled out of supporting the show. And O’Reilly is on vacation, maybe permanently. The shareholder law firm Scott & Scott is investigating 21st Century Fox to “determine whether Fox’s Officers and Directors have breached their fiduciary duties.” And The Fox News Channel is under investigation by federal prosecutors to determine whether it broke securities law by masking past settlement payments to victims of Ailes and others at Fox as salary and compensation, to avoid disclosure of the payments and the harassment.
But perhaps in the best sign of winning yet, for the last three weeks in a row, and the first time ever, MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” has outperformed O'Reilly in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic. Maddow’s crisp, intelligent and deeply researched show is building a significant following and beginning to loosen OReilly’s grip on that hour slot in cable news.
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