In New York magazine’s September cover story which chronicles the fall of Ailes, Gabriel Sherman said Fox obtained the phone records of journalists by ‘legally questionable means’.
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The parent company of Fox News has settled a lawsuit against its former CEO Roger Ailes for $20 million, a stunning admission that the company does not want to fight the sexual harassment charges brought by former anchor Gretchen Carlson. The other women were not named.
Carlson stunned the media industry when she filed a sexual-harassment lawsuit against Ailes.
Her contract was not renewed at the end of June, which she claimed was the result of her speaking out about the harassment.
Former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes is threatening New York Magazine with legal action for its extensive coverage of his downfall.
In a highly unusual public statement on Tuesday morning, the company said, “We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect that she and all our colleagues deserve”. So, Roger Ailes might get to keep his political career and his cash, but it looks like people at Fox understand something was seriously wrong with the work culture he created at the cable network.
On the other hand, Sherman concludes, “it is unfathomable to think, given Ailes’s reputation, given the number of women he propositioned and harassed and assaulted over decades, that senior management at Fox News was unaware of what was happening”.
She declined further comment on the settlement. Fox is fighting that case and has described Tantaros as an “opportunist” in court papers. Ailes has denied those incidents as well.
21st Century Fox, however, is acknowledging harm.
In his resignation letter, Ailes did not indicate he had done anything wrong.
Still, the tactic of a legal threat by the Ailes’ attorney is by now chillingly familiar: After sending correspondence of intent to the Daily Mail in response to allegations that Melania Trump was once an escort, the Mail quickly retracted the tale. While Mr Ailes has long enjoyed the loyalty of Rupert Murdoch, the younger Murdochs – who are chairman and chief executive, respectively, of 21st Century Fox – have long clashed with the Fox News founder.
Finally, Gabriel Sherman, who reported on Ailes for NY and was also named in Ailes’ letter, reports that Greta Van Susteran, the Fox News anchor who defended Ailes when Carlson first came forward, is leaving the company.
The source said Ailes is paying an unknown portion of the settlement. Media Matters said the latest revelations suggest Fox News employees broke the law.
CNNMoney recently reported that copies of a 400-page opposition research file about Sherman made the rounds inside Fox News while Sherman was working on the biography.
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Fox’s median age is over 65, higher than MSNBC and CNN, whose viewers are a median age of 64 and 60 respectively, according to Nielsen data.
