the total amount of payouts related to sexual harassment allegations at Fox News to more than $85 million — paid by the network’s parent company, 21st Century Fox. The vast majority of that — as much as $65 million in exit packages — is being paid to the men who were ousted because of the allegations.
.. Mr. Ailes received a $40 million package when he left.
.. As examples of how the network had yet to change, the employees pointed to the fact that Bill Shine and Jack Abernethy, the network’s co-presidents and former lieutenants to Mr. Ailes, remained in their positions.
.. But the new contract provided the company with some protections. Those included a provision that Mr. O’Reilly could be dismissed if the company was made aware of other allegations against him or if new ones arose, according to one person briefed on the matter. The contract also included provisions meant to get Mr. O’Reilly to address his behavior, the person said.
.. Last November, 21st Century Fox disclosed that for the three months that ended Sept. 30, the company had about $35 million in costs related to settlements of pending and potential litigation after Mr. Ailes was ousted.
Letters to the Editor: Bill O’Reilly and the Culture at Fox News
Re “Fox News Ousts O’Reilly, a Host Central to Its Rise” (front page, April 20):
So Bill O’Reilly’s departure is supposed to show a company changing its culture? The letter that Fox sent to its staff announcing that Mr. O’Reilly would step down in the face of mounting sexual harassment charges sure spent a lot of time praising him. It declared him “one of the most accomplished TV personalities in the history of cable news,” and if that weren’t enough went on to say that “his success by any measure is indisputable.”
How in the world does heaping praise on this departing sexual harasser honor the women whose careers he damaged? How does it begin to foster “a work environment built on the values of trust and respect”? How does it stand up for women in the workplace?
Far from showing a change for the better, the letter Fox sent to its staff confirms that the sickness at Fox starts with those at the top. These same people covered up Mr. O’Reilly’s behavior — and so put countless other women at risk — by paying out hush money to those who came forward, while doing nothing to solve the problem itself. Business. As. Usual.
KATH JONES, NEW YORK
.. To the Editor:
What is sad about this news is that allegations of sexual harassment can get a television host fired in America, yet it cannot stop the election of a president! Have the standards for the office of the president fallen lower than those for a television host?
GURMEET S. KANWAL
DOBBS FERRY, N.Y.
Now That Bill O’Reilly is Out, Here’s Who Might Be Next to Go at Fox News
In the lawsuit, Roginsky states that she had a meeting with Shine on July 29, 2016, after the revelations about Ailes started coming out in the media. Shine allegedly told Roginsky that “everything they are saying about Roger is true.” How the heck did he know that?
Roginsky further claims that she had another meeting with Shine on November 29, 2016, where she informed him of Ailes’ sexual advances. “They were not surprised to hear this:they already knew it,” the lawsuit states. She claims even after this meeting, Shine took no action to investigate, and did not encourage her to report what happened to Paul Weiss, the law firm tasked with investigating the scandal.
Perhaps the most shocking encounter of all was a Spring 2015 meeting between Tantaros and Fox News Senior Executive, Defendant William Shine (“Shine”), during which Tantaros sought relief from Ailes’s sexual harassment and Briganti’s retaliatory media vendetta against her. In response, Shine told Tantaros that Ailes was a “very powerful man” and that Tantaros “needed to let this one go.”
.. A high-ranking Fox source confirmed that Fox moved Luhn to New York so Ailes could monitor her. Luhn remembers staying at the Warwick Hotel for six weeks. During this time, she said, Ailes told her he needed to approve all of her outgoing emails. “I’d show him all the emails I’m getting,” she recalled. For several weeks, he marked them up and would “dictate exactly” how to respond. “You don’t have friends,” she recalled Ailes telling her. “I’m your friend. I’ll protect you.” He told her to also forward her emails to Bill Shine for review, she said. “The second floor” — where top Fox executives work — “was in charge of my life. I wasn’t in charge,” she said.
Jake Tapper asked whether Sarah Palin was harassed at Fox News. She didn’t exactly say no.
In a cagey interview on CNN on Thursday, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin declined to give a direct answer when anchor Jake Tapper asked whether she witnessed or experienced sexual harassment when she was a Fox News contributor.
TAPPER: Did you ever witness or experience, God forbid, anything like that at Fox?
PALIN: I wouldn’t put up with anything that would be perceived as intimidating or harassing.
TAPPER: But you said you’re “former,” so was that part of the reason you left?
PALIN: Um, you can ask them why I’m no longer at Fox. You know, I’m not going to speak for them. My contract wasn’t renewed — that is, um, that’s the line.
TAPPER: I don’t want to be a jerk, but it sounds like you experienced something.
PALIN: Um, I just, you know, it was just time to part ways and get out there in, you know, I guess a more diverse arena to express views and speak for the public, and that’s what I’ve been able to do now.
TAPPER: All right, well, I’m not going to push any farther on that.
Palin didn’t say yes, but she didn’t exactly say no, either, and she spoke generally about the need for reform at Fox News.
“Corporate culture there obviously has to change,” Palin said. “Women don’t deserve it. They should not ever have to put up with any kind of intimidating workspace.”