Before #MeToo
I had a visceral reaction to the headline, "Bill O'Reilly Thrives at Fox News, Even as Harassment Settlements Add UP." I wasn't alone.
Bill O’Reilly Thrives at Fox News, Even as Harassment Settlements Add Up APRIL 1, 2017
Two days later, the country woke up to read about advertisers pulling their dollars from FOX news.
Reading about the work environment at FOX over the past few months has prompted me to share an experience that I long considered a "shameful" secret even though the shameful behavior had been directed at me. Only now do I feel safe enough, and vindicated enough to talk about it.
More than a decade ago, I worked on a show with a manager who bullied the women who worked for him. Three of us who bore the brunt of his attention and we met with the head of HR who promised to launch an internal investigation. I remember being so relieved, believing that HR would make things right. How naive that sounds now. You can guess what happened next. HR conducted an investigation that did not include interviewing any of our colleagues. Because our station was owned and operated by FOX, the network's lawyers in New York were handling the investigation. Ultimately, FOX deemed our concerns to be without merit. We were dismayed, shocked and demoralized.
Apparently the nightmare was experienced by many other women who worked at FOX. The extent of it is quite horrifying. The retaliation and abuse of power enabled by an old boy’s network and network lawyers is now in the spotlight. I applaud the advertisers who were willing to pull their money from a highly rated show. I applaud the courage of Gretchen Carlson, Juliet Huddy and others for exposing Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly. I would like to be able to stay that this is the last gasp of a Mad Men inspired era. However. Travis Kalanick, the 40 year old CEO of Uber is proof that this is not a problem confined to a by-gone generation.
But things are getting better. The fact that the suits and settlements against Bill O’Reilly made the front page at the New York Times is progress. The fact that advertisers take bad behavior seriously is progress. Sunlight is the greatest disinfectant.
To wrap up our fairytale from hell, the offending producer was reassigned to FOX headquarters in New York. It wasn't the best possible outcome but it felt a little like vindication, an implied but unspoken acknowledgment by management that we had been wronged.
Maybe it had to be a former Ms. America with a Stanford degree to take on and take down aRoger Ailes. We owe Gretchen Carlson a debt of gratitude. Perhaps her courage will change the workplace culture for future generations young women, starting now.