Inside the team of lawyers and P.R. agents strategizing former Fox anchor’s battle against Roger Ailes
Carlson had not given Fox a heads-up, or even announced publicly that she had been terminated from the network.
“Ailes and Fox have a very heavy hand in media relations. What’s important [is] no one had known up until the suit was filed that Gretchen had been fired,” Ripp Media founder Allan Ripp told POLITICO.
.. As someone who knows Smith’s firm well, Reis said she believes they wouldn’t have taken the case without assiduously vetting the claims.
.. Carlson and her lawyers knew that it wouldn’t be enough to fight the case in the courts; they also had to have a good P.R. strategy. That’s where Ripp Media comes in.
.. Most major national news outlets covered the suit. The most conspicuous outlier was the New York Post, which is owned by 21st Century Fox sister company News Corp. As of Saturday morning, the tabloid hadn’t published anything about the case in print or online. The Wall Street Journal, which is also owned by News Corp., reported the allegations on Thursday in a story on page B5, which was blurbed on the front page.
.. “There’s some allegations that have not even been included yet that may come out in discovery. … Not everything that could have been in the complaint was included in the complaint,” he said.
Carlson’s representatives have said that her aim is to air her complaints in a public jury trial, that settlement is not an option. Of course, that’s what complainants always say at this stage of the game.
Carlson would seem to be well situated to make good on her pledge to bring this matter to trial. Her husband, Casey Close, is one of the richest sports agents in professional baseball, with a client list that includes Derek Jeter and Clayton Kershaw.
.. “Gretchen believes she’s representing a long list of women who have faced similar issues and harassment,” Ripp said. “And she wants to take this to the very end. So she’s happy and fully prepared to go to trial. That could be a long time away.”
Roger Ailes opts for secrecy, cowardice in face of Gretchen Carlson suit
Fox News management made a sound decision in choosing the American Arbitration Association (AAA) as its agent of choice.According to a 2011 study by Cornell University’s Alexander Colvin, employees prevail less frequently and recover less money in cases arbitrated by the AAA — the study examined nearly 4,000 cases between 2003 and 2007 — than they do in trials.
.. Paul Bland, an expert on arbitration clauses and executive director of Public Justice, tells the Erik Wemple Blog that as a general rule, only the parties to an arbitration clause can invoke it. After reading the court documents filed by Carlson’s lawyers, Bland noted that the agreement is between Fox News and Carlson. “Ailes is not named in it. Their argument is that FOX means Ailes. They should have written more broadly, most arbitration clauses name others who work for or with, are associated with, etc. I consider him a non-party under this language. Poor drafting,” writes Bland in an email.
.. “The problems of secrecy in arbitration are really highlighted in this case — you look at all of the women who have come forward with very similar stories, and you can see why Ailes would prefer to keep a lid on all of this by avoiding the public court system where the evidence becomes a matter of public record.”
.. Another thing to consider is that Carlson worked at Fox News for 11 years, presiding in some way over thousands of hours of programming. Over all those hours, Carlson was adjudged reliable and honest enough such that Ailes and his lieutenants placed their precious Fox News audience in her hands. Now, all of the sudden, she has become the source for her lawyers’ dissemination of “one false and defamatory statement after another.” Even you, Roger Ailes, can’t have it both ways.
Six More Women Allege That Roger Ailes Sexually Harassed Them
Ailes is clearly trying to keep these stories out of the press and the courts. Late on Friday, his lawyers filed a motion in federal court in New Jersey seeking to move Carlson’s lawsuit to arbitration, which would prevent witnesses from being called in court.
.. So we get in the car and that’s when he said, ‘You know if you want to play with the big boys, you have to lay with the big boys.’
.. He said that’s how all these men in media and politics work — everyone’s got their friend. I said, ‘Would I have to be friends with anybody else?’ And he said, ‘Well you might have to give a blowjob every once in a while.’
Gretchen Carlson Suit Against Fox News Head Forces Network to Face Changing Mores
Respect and equality in the workplace don’t represent political correctness anymore, if they ever did. They are the cornerstones of modern human resource policies used by sophisticated companies. Mr. Ailes is not just bumping up against an annoyance he can wave away, he’s confronting a new world order, something Rupert Murdoch and his sons, James and Lachlan, understood when they issued a statement about the lawsuit saying, “We take these matters seriously’’ and would conduct an internal review.
..Mr. Ailes’s very approach to television — as the quintessential visual medium — has stood as a rebuke to those who might be sensitive to signs of female objectification. His sets are famous for their translucent desks, which show the legs of his female stars who are so often in skirts.
It was Ms. Carlson who once said that when she was a host on the set of “Fox & Friends,” the network’s morning program, “pants were not allowed.” Fox News has denied any such rule.
.. A few years ago, Mr. Ailes might have been free to defend himself with the unquestioned support of his like-minded longtime patron, Mr. Murdoch, who has stood by him as Mr. Ailes has brought in huge revenue ..
.. But Mr. Murdoch’s sons have different political and corporate sensibilities than their father.