"The Murdochs Are Turning Against Bill O'Reilly"

[FIVR]

Sources: The Murdochs Are Turning Against Bill O’Reilly
By Gabriel Sherman



With only six days remaining in Bill O’Reilly’s vacation, the pressure on the Murdoch family to decide the embattled commentator’s fate is intensifying. Three sources with knowledge of the discussions said that, while no final decision has been made, the Murdochs are leaning toward announcing that O’Reilly will not return to the air. Sons James and Lachlan have been arguing that O’Reilly needs to go, say these sources, though their father, Rupert, has resisted that outcome.

The prospect of dumping O’Reilly — once unimaginable — has gained steam this week due in part to street protests outside Fox News headquarters and advertiser boycotts on O’Reilly’s air. One network insider said Fox executives are alarmed by the severity of the ad-revenue decline. “It’s worse than Glenn Beck,” the insider said, referring to the advertiser revolt that helped derail Beck’s Fox News career in 2011.

Another factor: the Murdochs’ pending $14 billion takeover of European pay-TV provider Sky. On May 16, the British media regulator Ofcom is setto judge whether the Murdochs are “fit and proper” to own such a large media property. Removing O’Reilly could appease critics and help close the Sky deal. (In 2011, the Murdochs abandoned their initial takeover offer for Sky after the London phone-hacking scandal.)

Meanwhile, the Murdochs are also dealing with a restive workplace. Female Fox News employees are growing increasingly frustrated that the Murdochs have not forcefully confronted the company’s culture of sexual harassment in the wake of removing Roger Ailes. “Morale is awful,” one Fox female executive told me yesterday, adding that employees are wondering if budgets have been cut to pay for sexual-harassment settlements. “There’s been no word from management to calm the masses.” (Spokespersons for 21st Century Fox and Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.)

Sources describe the Murdoch family discussions as fraught. Initially, according to sources, Lachlan was aligned with his father, but in recent days he has leaned more in his brother James’s direction. “The three are fighting,” the insider said. In some ways, deciding O’Reilly’s fate is more complicated than the decision to oust Ailes last summer. O’Reilly is Fox’s highest-rated host and the linchpin of the prime-time schedule, so his removal could have immediate effects on the network’s ratings. And according to one Fox source, Rupert has told people he does not want to fire O’Reilly because it would make it appear he was forced into a decision by “the New York Times.”

Rupert Murdoch built his media empire without paying much attention to corporate norms and rules, but his sons showed with the ouster of Ailes that they wanted to run a different kind of company. What happens to O’Reilly will tell us more about who is winning the intergenerational battle over 21st Century Fox.

bold mine
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. I know I will cry myself to sleep the night Bill announces he will no longer grace us with his sublime presence on FOX.

 

[Azuma Hazuki]

Good. It's the destiny of evil people to go down clawing one another to shreds.

 

[FIVR]

But the good Mr. O'Reilly didn't do anything wrong. He's just such a famous conservative white man that of course his employer has to spend $13M on sexual harassment lawsuits. People are out to get him because of his righteous ways. That's how he explained it to me, anyway.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

O’Reilly’s popularity is higher than the Murdoch's. Of course, Trump's popularity is higher than the Murdoch's.

 

[FIVR]

New Bill O’Reilly Sex-Harassment Accuser Announced as Protesters Hit Fox News HQ

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-bill-o-reilly-accuser-street-protests-hit-fox-news-n747966

New Bill O’Reilly Sex-Harassment Accuser Announced as Protesters Hit Fox News HQ
by MARY EMILY O'HARA

Another woman on Tuesday came out with accusations of sexual harassment against Fox News host Bill O'Reilly — even as protesters, including survivors of sex assault, rallied outside of the cable network's headquarters.

Attorney Lisa Bloom announced Tuesday that she is representing a new client who is accusing O'Reilly of "sexual and racial harassment."

Bloom did not reveal the identity of the new client but said that she called the hotline Fox News set up last week to investigate claims against O'Reilly.

The attorney told The Hollywood Reporter that her client was called "hot chocolate" by O'Reilly and "was afraid if she told him to knock it off she'd get fired."

She also represents Wendy Walsh, a former regular guest on The O'Reilly Factor, who said in a bombshell New York Times story that O'Reilly promised her a lucrative job in exchange for sex. The same article revealed that $13 million has been paid in at least five settlements involving O'Reilly's sexually inappropriate behavior at work.

Responding to the latest accusations, O'Reilly attorney Marc E. Kasowitz said in a statement to NBC News: "It is outrageous that an allegation from an anonymous person about something that purportedly happened almost a decade ago is being treated as fact, especially where there is obviously an orchestrated campaign by activists and lawyers to destroy Mr. O'Reilly and enrich themselves through publicity driven donations."

In follow-up statement, Kasowitz added: "Bill O'Reilly has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America. This law firm has uncovered evidence that the smear campaign is being orchestrated by far-left organizations bent on destroying O'Reilly for political and financial reasons. That evidence will be put forth shortly and it is irrefutable."

It was unclear what that evidence would be. O'Reilly in the past has said that all of the prior allegations against him have no merit.

Bloom's Tuesday announcement came just 30 minutes after a protest kicked off at 1211 Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, Fox headquarters, where survivors of sexual harassment and assault stood just steps from news studios and demanded that O'Reilly be fired.

"Fox News has a problem with sexual assault — and it's bigger than just Bill O'Reilly. For years, Fox News executives have provided cover for Bill O'Reilly's systematic harassment and abuse of other Fox New's employees - making it hard to take their promises to investigate such crimes seriously." said Shaunna Thomas, co-founder of the women's rights advocacy group UltraViolet, in a statement Tuesday.

Thomas was joined at Tuesday's protest by members of the National Organization for Women, Color of Change, HerUnivercity, and New York City Public Advocate Letitia James in addition to survivors of sexual assault and harassment.

More than 300 sexual harassment and assault survivors signed on to a letter to Fox CEO James Murdoch, said speaker Jodeen Olguin-Tayler, who told the crowd that her own experiences of abuse at work inspired her to speak out against the allegations at Fox News.

"Like so many women, and dare I say most women, I've been the target of workplace sexual harassment," said Olguin-Tayler. "I was sexually assaulted at work in my 20's, in my 30's, and I've been sexually harassed at work while pregnant."

Public Advocate James addressed the crowd shortly before helping carry four petition boxes — which she said contained 480,000 signatures — to a security guard at the Fox News headquarters doorstep.

"We've come here to deliver a petition and a message to Fox," said James. "And that is: Bill O'Reilly has got to go."

Earlier in the day, Ultraviolet had commissioned a plane to fly over New York with a banner strung behind it reading "Fox: #DropOReilly, The Sexual Predator." The group also had movie-sized posters pasted around Midtown that ask "Have you been sexually harassed by Bill?"

In addition to the at least $13 million paid out in secret arbitrations, Fox has lost dozens of advertisers due to the O'Reilly scandal. By April 5, just four days after the New York Times story blew up public concern, 27 companies had pulled ads from O'Reilly's show.

A week ago, O'Reilly announced he was taking a vacation. He is expected to return to work on April 24th. Anika Collier Navaroli, senior campaign manager at Color of Change, told NBC News that protesters will be returning on Monday to greet him.

it is all lies tho don't worry. he gonna be vindicated anny second now

 

[UberNeuman]

Look out Spicer! Papa Bear's coming for your job.

/would not surprise me one bit....

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Look out Spicer! Papa Bear's coming for your job.

/would not surprise me one bit....

Our Cheeto in Chief couldn't abide anyone upstaging him.

 

[FIVR]

Look out Spicer! Papa Bear's coming for your job.

/would not surprise me one bit....

That would be his most logical Parlay, and Trump seems like the kind of guy who might like that. Solves the spicy problem and gives him a way higher profile press secretary.



At the least, it would give him someone to talk to every day who is also in the unique position of already being accused of being a sexual deviant and predator. They could discuss legal strategies amongst other 'mutual interests'.

 

[UNCjigga]

O'Reilly has nothing to worry about here. He'll get a massive book deal to help defray any future lawsuits, and Trump Jr. would be happy to have him as the face of Trump TV.

 

[jman19]

It's a shame these nasty women took down innocent ol' Bill-o. The oppression of the white male continues.

/s

 

[woolfe9998]

Bill O'Reilly can take a flying leap so far as I'm concerned. Good riddance.

The larger question for me is what happens to Fox News after Murdoch, who is I think 85 years old, kicks the bucket. Are his sons going to make significant changes to its format? Are they more liberal than their father?

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Yeah when you have to setup a hotline for all the women harassed by an employee..... it might be time to sever the relationship.

 

[FIVR]

She also represents Wendy Walsh, a former regular guest on The O'Reilly Factor, who said in a bombshell New York Times story that O'Reilly promised her a lucrative job in exchange for sex. The same article revealed that $13 million has been paid in at least five settlements involving O'Reilly's sexually inappropriate behavior at work.

It occurs to me: How many lucrative jobs has Fox given away just so Bill can get laid? Does Fox just assume that Bill has good taste in women, and use his penis as some weird cast-selection tool?

 

[MomentsofSanity]

WSJ is saying he's gone imminently. I'm going to say if WSJ is saying it then he's gone.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fox-is-preparing-to-cut-ties-with-bill-oreilly-1492566611

 

[Sunburn74]

Its ridiculous he already isn't out. I can't imagine any other job where someone would survive this. In my field, even a hint of sexual harassment is a death knell to your career.

 

[manly]

Its ridiculous he already isn't out. I can't imagine any other job where someone would survive this. In my field, even a hint of sexual harassment is a death knell to your career.

He'd be safe at Uber.

 

[ch33zw1z]

So we're not supposed to grab 'em by the pussy?

I can't keep up with Conservatives these days.

 

[HomerJS]

Righties don't care. They continue to support the Sexual Predator Network. They have no principles

What's wrong with you people?

 

[Paratus]

Next Book Deal?

"Killing Bill O'Reillys Career"?

 

[K1052]

Next Book Deal?

"Killing Bill O'Reillys Career"?

Or back to creepy romance novels narrated by himself.

 

[FIVR]

Uh oh.

WSJ: Fox News Prepping to Cut Ties With O’Reilly

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats...reilly-future.html?via=desktop&source=copyurl

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal Tuesday night, Fox News is preparing to cut ties with Bill O’Reilly. The news came on the heels of a number of reports suggesting that O’Reilly’s days are numbered at the cable channel. According to an earlier report from CNN, representatives for Fox and O’Reilly have started conversations about an exit for the embattled host, who has been on vacation. Sources in O’Reilly’s camp denied that this was the case, according to CNN. However, the network’s parent company, 21st Century Fox will hold a board meeting Thursday in which O’Reilly is expected to be discussed. The Murdoch family, who control 21st Century Fox, is not commenting on the matter. The recent O’Reilly problems stem from a New York Times report that detailed undisclosed settlement payments that O’Reilly, Fox News, and 21st Century Fox paid to women who accused O’Reilly of sexual harassment and verbal abuse.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

One does not need to be a genius to make money. For most it would be boring. What is needed is a personality more akin to more primitive predators such as sharks. The biggest sharks in a species are those that follow the flow of prey most efficiently and eliminate that which hinders feeding. In this case the human sharks have found a positive situation to be an inhibition in acquiring "food" AKA money and therefore will eliminate that obstacle (Bill) to return to homeostasis.

 

[Thebobo]

Good bye and good riddance.

 

[Homerboy]

Good bye and good riddance.

While I'd like to like and agree with this post, you know he's not going away. He'll be gone from Fox, but will undoubtedly pop up in another location and lead the mindless again.

 

[FIVR]

guys, rupert murdoch owns WSJ. He's gone. onward to the Trumptanic