Can the Murdochs Contain the Damage From the Ailes Investigation?

[Snarkoleptic]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/07/can-the-murdochs-contain-the-ailes-damage.html#

...sources point out that it is in the Murdochs’ interest to try to limit the damage to Ailes and avoid an outcome where Fox, which generates more than $1 billion a year in profit, is exposed for having a broader culture that’s hostile to female employees. These same sources point out that it is difficult to ensure the “independence” of an independent investigation; Paul, Weiss was criticized by a federal judge for its role in another high-profile investigation — Deflategate — saying that rather than remaining independent, the firm became an advocate on behalf of the NFL.

**IMHO, one has only to turn on Fox News to see this evidenced by all of the short skirts. I can't imagine another professional organization where such a dress code would be pushed**

Limiting the damage to Ailes may prove difficult. Multiple sources told me that a number of women at Fox, who work both on camera and off, have experienced sexual harassment and are eager to talk about it with investigators. “Lots of other women want to come forward,” a Fox source briefed on the investigation told me. “They won’t talk to the press. They want to talk to the outside lawyer because that’s safe.” Gretchen Carlson, in her recent interview with the Times, also suggested that the harassment was widespread.

Meanwhile, the accusations against Ailes himself continue to pile up. According to sources I spoke with, at least three former Fox anchors have been harassed. One former rising star at the network has said that Ailes approached her during a barbecue at Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy’s house in New Jersey while she was bouncing on a trampoline with children and said, “Are you wearing any panties? I wish you weren't.” Another recently departed Fox host has claimed Ailes made her turn around in his office to show him her figure.

Meanwhile, more women from Ailes’s years as a daytime television producer have come forward. This week, I spoke with Judy, a 67-year-old former model who says that during an audition for The Dennis Wholey Show in 1969, when she was 19 years old, Ailes asked her to lift up her skirt and lie facedown on a bed at the Sheraton Gibson Hotel in Cincinnati. “I totally freaked,” she said, on the condition that I would only use her first name for fear of retribution. “I got up and ran to the door. He stood in front of the door and locked it.” Judy managed to escape and tell her parents, and they took her to the police. “I remember Ailes being manipulative and sweet-talking my parents out of pressing charges,” she says. “Afterwards, he called my mom and said, 'If you ever need anything, you call me.”

[Gothmog]

1. I hope that the murdochs are not successful in containing the damage to Fox

[Exilednight]

2. This is a bit more dicey than past scandals for Fox. Ailes has made

Enemies within the younger generation of Murdochs. The kids now control Fox News and they may see this as a way to push him out and replace him with someone they view as more in tune with their leadership style.