Roger Ailes, former Fox News chief and current Donald Trump adviser, has hired lawyer Charles J. Harder to pursue a defamation lawsuit against NY magazine and one of its reporters, Gabriel Sherman, presumably over Sherman’s reporting on the sexual harassment allegations that led to Ailes’ swift and sudden departure. As part of the settlement, Carlson can bring no further legal action against the company. She did not elaborate.
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“During her tenure at Fox News, Gretchen exhibited the highest standards of journalism and professionalism”.
Fox did not explain Van Susteren’s exit, although a person close to the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity described it as a financial disagreement.
Van Susteren’s husband, John Coale, said in a phone interview Tuesday that his wife exercised what is known as a “key man clause” Friday, which allowed her to leave if Ailes was not in control.
Network officials insisted that the timing was coincidental. He said he’s taking on Van Susteren’s show through the election. Other current and former Fox employees, including Megyn Kelly, have made similar complaints about Ailes, who left the network in the wake of Carlson’s lawsuit. She later said she wasn’t trying to defend him, merely to say she hadn’t experienced harassment or knew anybody who had.
Fox then deleted the “On the Record” web site, Van Susteren’s biography, and her pioneering Gretawire blog – essentially erasing her from FoxNews.com.
Ailes, 76, had denied allegations that he had sought to pressure Carlson into a sexual relationship, but the lawsuit led to reports of other women coming forward to support Carlson’s allegations of a hostile work environment.
NY magazine reported last week that Carlson began taking her iPhone into meetings with Ailes in 2014 and secretly recording their conversations.
In the same statement, Ms Carlson said, “I am ready to move on with the next chapter of my life in which I will redouble my efforts to empower women in the workplace”.
Two weeks after Carlson sued, Ailes was gone, reportedly with a $40 million payout.
Another former Fox commentator, Andrea Tantaros, has filed a harassment lawsuit against the network. He is said to be informally advising Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
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Sherman, a national editor at NY magazine and the dutiful chronicler in recent months of growing dysfunction at Fox News Channel, will serve as a contributor to NBC News and MSNBC, according to an NBC News executive.
