Fox News: Chairman Faces Multiple Sexual Harassment Accusations (2016)

CONTROVERSY
Fox News Channel launched in October of 1996 by billionaire mogul Rupert Murdoch, who hired media consultant Roger Ailes as its founding CEO. Today, the company is worth upwards of $11 billion dollars, is available in 90 million homes, and is recognized as the dominant cable news network. The channel has been the most watched cable news network for fourteen years in a row, with more prime time viewers than MSNBC and CNN combined. Despite its massive success, the company's reputation has been tainted by accusations of bias, misrepresentation of facts, and most recently, fostering a work environment in which sexual harassment can easily occur.

Roger Ailes
 Former Chairman and Founding CEO of Fox News

On July 26, 2016 Gretchen Carlson, a former anchor for Fox News, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against long time Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes. The lawsuit alleged that Carlson was terminated for rejecting Ailes' sexual advances. Later that week, New York Magazine reporter Gabriel Sherman reported similar accounts from six other women who also alleged sexual harassment at the hands of Ailes. Ailes and his representatives vehemently denied all allegations, claiming that each story was fabricated. However, upon an internal review into Carlson's claims, Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch apparently found enough information early into the review to conclude that Ailes needed to be let go. Murdoch decided to give Ailes an ultimatum, asking him to either resign by August 1 or be fired immediately. Ailes chose to resign on July 21, but not without a $40 million dollar check from Fox News and a public thank you for his time with the company. Additionally, he was able to stay on as a consultant for the parent company, 21st Century Fox, for another two years.

In August 2016, following Ailes’ resignation, reporter Andrea Tantaros also filed a lawsuit against Fox News for sexual harassment, accusing Ailes as well as two other men on the Fox News Team. Her suit claimed that she had spoken to Fox News executives about Ailes' inappropriate behavior toward her in 2015, and that her allegations got her demoted then later taken off the air. One month later, 21st Century Fox announced it had settled a lawsuit with Gretchen Carlson over her allegations of harassment against Ailes for $20 million dollars. The company also made at least two other settlements, the names and details of which were not publicly disclosed.   

Gretchen Carlson
Reporter, Most Public Ailes Accuser

STAKEHOLDERS
This controversy involves many stakeholders, more of which seem to be discovered every few weeks. Fox News itself is a stakeholder, as the allegations were made from several employees about another employee. The allegations make for embarrassing headlines and have led to millions of dollars spent on behalf of the company in court. Roger Ailes is an obvious stakeholder, for he was accused of the harassment and asked to resign. Additionally, Gretchen Carlson and Andrea Tantaros, as well as the other six victims who anonymously filed complaints and any woman working for Fox News as a reporter, consultant, or recurring guest are all stakeholders because they either have been or could have been victims of sexual harassment in this workplace. Fox News reporter Megyn Kelly and other women on the Fox News team have also been affected by this case, as they were asked to defend the accused and discredit the accusers.

INDIVIDUALISM

Example of a Potentially Damaging Headline

Individualism states that a business's only goal should be to make as much profit as possible, so the only obligation that a business person has is to maximize profit for the owner and stockholders of a company while obeying the law. Individualism analyzes the outcome of a decision rather than the intention of it. Fox News paid out at least $20 million dollars to Gretchen Carlson, one of Ailes' accusers. The company also settled with at least two other women for undisclosed amounts, and paid Roger Ailes $40 million dollars upon his resignation. Additionally, the company incurred other fees such as paying its legal teams and private investigators, plus paying Ailes a salary for at least two more years as he advises another area of the company. The company also broke laws by allowing sexual harassment to occur and continue to occur within the workplace. According to individualism the owners and stockholders of the company were stolen from, as their profits were spent on costs that could have been prevented. In sum, the company did not obey the law or maximize profits for its owners, and did not act ethically according to this theory.

UTILITARIANISM
Utilitarianism argues that happiness is the only thing of intrinsic value and therefore people must impartially bring about happiness in all beings capable of feeling it. A utilitarian would consider a decision ethical if it maximized happiness and minimized pain for all stakeholders. Fox News suppressed claims of sexual misconduct in the work place, failed to investigate early on, and fired women who came forward. This created a hostile work environment in which a powerful man was allowed to behave inappropriately for allegedly at least a period of one year without consequence, and any young female employee was expected to endure it or leave the company. The company's decision did not impartially bring about happiness, as it appeared to only maximize the happiness of one man, while hurting the company's own reputation, the victims, and other employees. Their behavior does not fit the criteria of utilitarian ethics, and so it cannot be considered ethical under this theory.

KANTIANISM
The basic principles of Kantian ethical theory are to act rationally, allow and help others to act rationally, respect others and their individual needs, and be motivated by the Good Will. Good Will refers to doing what is right simply because it is right. Kantianism does not allow deception or manipulation, for these behaviors cheat others out of receiving complete information which is necessary to make their own rational decisions. This theory also includes the Formula of Humanity, which requires that people act in such a way that they treat others always as both an end and a mean. The term "end" according to Kant refers to something that is valuable in itself, or a goal, while the term "means" refers to a way to get something else. Essentially what this formula means is that people cannot use other rational people simply as tools to get what they want. Fox News violated some of the key principles of this theory. The company did not respect Roger Ailes' accusers when they fired or demoted them. They were not motivated by the Good Will - Fox News only let Ailes go to avoid further harm to the company's reputation, not because it was the right thing to do. Furthermore, the company never issued an official statement regarding the controversy, instead they issued a kind 'thank you' to Roger Ailes for his decades of service with the company. This, coupled with the secret law suits and anonymity of other victims, left viewers and other stakeholders not fully informed. Fox News did not behave ethically according to Kantian ethical theory.

VIRTUE THEORY
Virtue Theory is derived from Aristotle's Functionalism, which states that a good person fulfills their function well, and that a person is happy when that function is fulfilled. Virtue Theory focuses on virtues, which are good characteristics that enable things to function properly, versus vices, which enable things to malfunction. There is a plethora of each, but the theory highlights four main virtues. These four main virtues include courage, honesty, temperance, and justice. In business, courage means risk-taking and a willingness to stand for what is right. Honesty refers to agreements, hiring, and employee treatment. Temperance means having reasonable expectations and justice means hard work, fair practice, and quality products. Fox News did take a risk by continuing to employ Roger Ailes amidst the various accusations, but it is not considered virtuous because it inhibited others from doing their jobs. The company was not honest in hiring, as Ailes allegedly offered jobs to women in return for sexual favors and the company did not treat him the way it treated others. Fox News did not exhibit temperance, for its expectations for women to remain silent were not reasonable. Finally, the company did not practice justice when it paid Roger Ailes tens of millions of dollars upon resignation. Fox News violated each of the four main virtues of business in this theory or allow all employees to fulfill their duties well and therefore did not behave ethically.

JUSTIFIED ETHICS EVALUATION

Fox News Logo

Upon researching and analyzing the facts of this case, I personally believe that Fox News’ gravest ethical violation was initially siding with him over his accusers with little investigation. In some ways, it appears as though Ailes was even rewarded for his behavior in the form of a $40 million dollar exit deal - twice the amount granted in Gretchen Carlson's settlement - and public praise for his professional career. This behavior reflects poorly on the company's values and priorities. In addition, they suppressed victim claims and even punished those who tried to seek justice by firing, demoting, or discrediting them. Fox News failed to provide a workplace offering fairness, equality, safety, or comfort. My opinion is separate from the ethical theories examined above and could be changed with new information.

UPDATE APRIL 13, 2017

Although Roger Ailes has been removed from the position of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, the controversy involving the culture of sexual harassment at Fox News is ongoing. On April 1, 2017 the New York Times published an investigation on Bill O’Reilly, star of cable news’ most popular program, “The O’Reilly Factor.” The story detailed how over $13 million has been paid out to address complaints and settle law suits from women about O’Reilly over the past decade. The complaints alleged either verbal abuse, sexual harassment, or sometimes both. Most recently, Wendy Walsh, a former recurring guest on “The O’Reilly Factor,” was just granted an internal investigation by Fox into her sexual harassment claims.

Since the story broke, the show’s ad time has decreased from just over fifteen minutes to less than seven minutes. This is because advertisers such as Mitsubishi, Aleve, Mercedes-Benz, Allstate, Subaru, and BMW have pulled their ads slated to air during his show. On April 11, amid this exodus of advertisers, O’Reilly announced he would be taking a voluntary, two week vacation to an undisclosed location. As of April 13, O’Reilly is expected to return to his show on Fox News on April 24 with no punishment by Fox or changes to his program.

RESOURCES

Byers, Dylan. "Megyn Kelly Outlines Harassment Allegations against Roger Ailes in New Book." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 3 Nov. 2016. Web

Byers, Dylan. "Bill O'Reilly taking vacation amid scandal, advertiser exodus." CNNMoney. CNN Media, 11 Apr. 2017. Web.

Kelly, Megyn. Settle for More. S.I. Harper Collins, 2017. Print.

Kurtz, Howard. "Gretchen Carlson Harassment Suit against Roger Ailes Settled." Fox News. FOX News Network, 6 Sept. 2016. Web.

Kurtz, Howard. "Roger Ailes Resigns as Fox News Chairman, Rupert Murdoch Assumes Acting Role." Fox News. FOX News Network, 21 July 2016. Web.

Link, Taylor. "Here’s how Fox retaliated Against a Local Reporter." Salon. Salon Magazine, 11 Apr. 2017. Web.

Reilly, Katie. "More Women Accuse Fox News CEO Roger Ailes of Sexual Harassment."Time. Time, 9 July 2016. Web. 31 Jan. 2017. Web.

Steel, Emily. "Fox Faces New Lawsuit Claiming Harassment by Roger Ailes." The New York Times. New York, 13 Dec. 2016. Web.

Sherman, Gabriel. "How Fox News Women Took Down Roger Ailes." Daily Intelligencer. New York Magazine, 2 Sept. 2016. Web.

Sherman, Gabriel. "6 More Women Allege That Roger Ailes Sexually Harassed Them." Daily Intelligencer. New York Magazine, 9 July 2016. Web.

Steel, Emily, and Michael S. Schmidt. "Bill O’Reilly Thrives at Fox News, Even as Harassment Settlements Add Up." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Apr. 2017. Web.