Kissing, touching, oral sex: Fox News employees say harassment problem goes way beyond Roger Ailes

[link to www.rawstory.com]

Employees say that sexual harassment, bullying and intimidation at the Fox News Channel are pervasive throughout the network’s culture and by no means is the problem limited to now-ousted CEO Roger Ailes.

On Saturday, the New York Times reported that it had spoken to a dozen women currently or formerly employed by the news network, all of whom say that they personally experienced sexual harassment or intimidation at work.


Former Fox personality Rudi Bakhtiar told theTimes about a run-in she had with her then-supervisor Fox News Washington Bureau Chief Brian Wilson. In 2007, Wilson dangled the possibility of a promotion in front of Bakhtiar and when she said she’d be excited to take the job, he reportedly told her, “I’d like to see the inside of your hotel room.” He said that he wanted them to have a “friends with benefits” relationship.

Bakhtiar declined and says that immediately her career at the company went into free-fall. Her appearances were canceled and when she attempted to address the issue with other executives, they told her to go to Human Resources.

Within weeks she was fired. Ailes told her that it was for performance-related reasons.

“In a short time, she went from thinking she was in line to land the job she coveted to unemployment,” wrote the Times‘ Jim Rutenberg and Emily Steel. “After a mediation process, she reached a settlement in which Fox News paid her an undisclosed amount.”

Bakhtiar said that part of the agreement was that she must never speak publicly about the harassment, but she felt emboldened by Gretchen Carlson’s lawsuit against Ailes, who stepped down on Thursday.