But can Rupert Murdoch, who's been overseeing Fox News, ride this out in the long term?įOLKENFLIK: Well, the real question, in some ways, lies in the hands of federal prosecutors. And in fact, you know, his first sexual harassment claim against him that got public was more than a dozen years ago, and he certainly survived that after making a major payout.
O'Reilly certainly has had scandals in the past. They may have to be given extra spots, extra commercials to make up for the premium that they paid to get into Bill O'Reilly's show in the first place in most cases. That is - most of the advertisers are shifting their commercials to other parts of the day.
Does that really hurt the network?įOLKENFLIK: Well, it's certainly something the network can relatively easily weather in the short term if the numbers don't keep growing. Now, the thing that's made headlines the last couple of days, though, is advertisers pulling out of the show. INSKEEP: And if I'm not mistaken, the company has also repeated that line about nobody called the hotline, which implies that none of these claims were really that serious. They say, why would we be convinced that that would be taken seriously when the network's human relations executives, top lawyers and even president, in the past, haven't taken our complaints seriously? One of O'Reilly's defenses is - hey, they haven't taken advantage of the call-in hotline to make complaints none of the women who have accused me did that. And in fact, the women at the network say they don't - that they're not convinced of it. You know, I wonder why women at the network would take that particularly seriously. He's assured us that he takes our commitment to a welcome workplace for all employees seriously. You know, the only statement put out by 21st Century Fox since The New York Times offered fresh focus on this last weekend was simply to say, we've talked to Bill. And there's a cynicism about the degree of sincerity with which the Murdoch family and the top executives are operating. There's sort of a contempt for O'Reilly from some of his colleagues, particularly female colleagues.
INSKEEP: Is the angst that you're hearing about Bill O'Reilly, or is it really about the company's response?įOLKENFLIK: It's really both. And yet, Bill O'Reilly, as this fresh attention from The New York Times and other places showed, is being allowed to continue despite the fact there had been multiple accusations of sexual harassment against him by former colleagues and in fact that they were so serious that they totaled these payments out in the many millions of dollars. They'll take concerns of female employees very seriously, a bunch of changes in store. You know, the Murdoch family that controls the parent company, 21st Century Fox - Rupert Murdoch oversees Fox News directly now.
Bill o reilly inside edition series#
Let's remember - nine months ago, during the summer, the chairman, the really propulsive force behind the success of Fox News, Roger Ailes, was ousted - with a huge payday but nonetheless ousted - after a series of explosive allegations of sexual harassment against him, all of which he denies. INSKEEP: So what are you hearing from inside the company?įOLKENFLIK: Well, there's a lot of anguish, distress and concern among employees at Fox News, particularly women, about the fact that Bill O'Reilly has been allowed to continue almost unrebuked by his employer seemingly. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik is here. It turns out that some of his female colleagues are not happy either after O'Reilly - and his employers - acknowledged paying $13 million or so to settle at least five sexual harassment suits against him. More than 50 companies, as you may have heard, have said they would rather not be seen on O'Reilly's Fox News program right now. Advertisers are not the only ones backing away from Bill O'Reilly.
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