What makes the behind-the-scene stories about Fox News so interesting is that they have always barely been behind the scenes at all. The latest row involving Bill O’Reilly is hardly a surprise. The New York Times chronicled O’Reilly’s regular entanglements in sexual harassment lawsuits: five women settling for $13 million (to date). The news cost O’Reilly multiple advertisers and apparently now has forced him to take a “vacation” for a few weeks. Let’s hope the vacation is permanent.
The growing scandal around O’Reilly seems to be part and parcel of the culture at Fox News. Long-time head honcho Roger Ailes lost his job last year after multiple women came forward to tell how the Jabba the Hutt of cable news put the moves on them. And, of course, the king of the Fox Network is the president himself–you know, the guy who boasts about sexually assaulting women. (He offered a character reference for O’Reilly, of course.)
Related: Fox News anchor Shepard Smith says Roger Ailes AlwaysTreated him fair and balanced
There’s no doubt that Fox News is a facing legal trouble. But in fact the stories that keep emerging underscore an inescapable truth about the network: it’s run by creeping old men for creepy old men.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Fox News has made a fetish out of selling sex for ratings. Specifically, selling images of pretty women (of a particular type). Female Fox News anchors (the blonder, the better) are well known for their short, short skirts on display under lucite desks. Under the guise of wagging a finger of disapproval, the network loves to show scantily clad women on news segments. In a classic case of having its cake and eating it too, the network tsk-tsk’d the famous photo of Kim Kardashian showing off her booty in a bikini, all the while directing people to see it on the Fox News website with this clickbait: NEWS: WHOA! Kim K. Bares Butt in Teeny Bikini.
Related: Roger Ailes Is A Big, Fat Idiot
Now, it’s not as if the other networks are innocent of such behavior. But the other networks don’t market themselves as the home of values-loving conservatives. Fox News somehow condemns sex while featuring it again and again.
And a particular kind of sex. It’s all about pretty, white women. You’re not going to see Shep Smith in short shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt. (Not that you’d want to.) What you’re seeing is the fantasy woman for men of a certain vintage.
Like O’Reilly, Ailes and Trump.
For a while, it looked as though Fox News might try to modify its image as the televised equivalent of soft porn in the nursing home. Megyn Kelly (yes, blond and pretty) was clearly moving the network in the direction of the late 20th century. Her clash with candidate Trump was a departure for the network, which speaks no ill of conservatives, no matter how brain-dead they may be. But at some point, the network–and its owner, Rupert Murdoch (age 86)–decided to place all its bets on Trump, doubling down on the formula that made Fox News successful.
Of course, the problem for the network is that the average age of its viewers is somewhere between 70 and death.
But theres’s no sign that the network wants to change. Even if O’Reilly manages to lose his job–a very big if–it’s clear that the culture at Fox News is trapped in amber from the Mad Men era (which many viewers will remember vividly and fondly). Changing that culture will take a lot of dedicated work, and despite the lip service the network has paid to being a more inclusive workplace, the fact that O’Reilly continues to reign belies the rhetoric.
In fact, Fox News somehow manages to find younger versions of the creeps it caters to. Megyn Kelly’s replaement is Tucker Carlson, who belittled a correspondent for Teen Vogue on air by telling her to “stick to the thigh-high boots.”
Now there’s an image that these dirty old men can get behind.
DCguy
I LOVE two things about this.
1. FOX isnt’ dumping O’Reilly for sexually harassing those women, they’re reluctantly talking about dumping him because people found out they’ve been letting him do it for years.
2. One of their defenses is that supposedly none of these women contacted H.R. They are actually saying that AFTER the investigation on them earlier in the year showed that H.R. was used as a way to protect harassers and fire women who complained.
1EqualityUSA
Roger Ailes, Donald Trump, and Bill O’Reilly deserve each other. What a herd of goats.
mhoffman953
How come Queerty is quick to jump to the conclusion that Bill O’Reilly is guilty but the gay Seattle mayor accused of molesting boys (https://www.queerty.com/openly-gay-seattle-mayor-ed-murray-accused-molesting-15-year-old-boy-20170407) isn’t guilty? I’m not saying whether either is guilty or innocent but look at the tone of both editorials
Plus what does an opinion piece about FOX News have to do with anything gay related? I could understand if FOX News did something to a gay man to report on it but what does the above story have to do with anything gay related?
Also what does Tucker Carlson have to do with this story? Queerty is taking his quote out of context when he interviewed a crazy woman.
1EqualityUSA
Anybody have a fly swatter? I seem to have misplaced it.
Mo Bro
I think it’s pretty obvious that Queerty isn’t a gay site, despite their claim to be so. They are exclusively a hyper-progressive site which exists to prop up the Democratic Party and demean the Republican Party. Sure, they throw in a couple stories occasionally about the latest twink or drag queen they’re obsessing over, but by and large it’s all about trashing those with whom they politically disagree and swaying lesser intellects into joining their cause.
Thankfully, however, there is a percentage of us who don’t buy into the propaganda—despite the fact that other commenters in this neighborhood can’t conceive of gay men being anything but liberal sycophants. Thankfully, there are people like you and me to bring balance.
1EqualityUSA
Forget the fly swatter; we need pest control stat. Why, is that fog? No, it’s mias-mo.
DCguy
Awwww, how adorable, this one of the Trump Troll screenames is desperately trying to change the topic.
If you’re asking about why people think O’Reilly is guilty you should talk to FOX News. They’re the ones who paid out over $13 million dollars. Sounds like THEY are the ones who think he’s guilty.
DCguy
Ohhh, and the screename “Mo Bro” also posted his typical “Change the topic” comment.
It’s funny when two different screenames of the same Trump Troll pretend to have a conversation with each other.
Bob LaBlah
Fox knows it has an image problem that just might sink it if it doesn’t do something about it. If you look closely at their news anchors, especially the women, you see women so comely that it may as well be a brothel. Their morning news show, Outnumbered, has Megan Kelly’s bosom rivaling Dolly Parton. Thats all you see and pay attention to when she is talking. The other women are dressed so whorishly that its the same thing. You watch the women, not listen to the news. They even brought in Mike Huckabee’s daughter to entertain the hillbillies and frontiersmen of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. Its sad but true. And lord knows there are frustrated white guys every where on every show. Even the damn business shows. I guess they told Juan Williams goodbye because I can’t remember the last time I saw him. He was the only voice of reason and that seems to be deadlier than Ebola over there at Fox. George Will caught it and they got rid of him too. They just launched a show with a guy who took his cue from Chuck Barris of the Gong Show. Yelling scream and stupid guess are the norm. It like Morton Downey/Wally George were resurrected. Its hard to believe news reporting has fallen to this but it has.
Hopefully what happened to this guy will get the ball rolling to stop these silly ass theatrics and get back to reporting the news.
mhoffman953
@BobLaBlah
So you’re mad at FOX News for having attractive news anchors who wear dresses to work? I’m not sure which women you are referencing that are dressed “whorishly”. They are wearing dresses just like you’ll see women wear from other networks such as Ginger Zee (ABC), Norah O’Donnell (CBS), Robin Meade (HLN), and many others. Would you prefer every woman on the news dress like Rachel Maddow?
I’ve seen pictures online of women who do the news in south American countries and those women are the ones who dress slutty for the news.
Also, Juan Williams is on the The Five on Fox News and regularly is a guest on most Fox shows at night. He was just on TV yesterday
Bob LaBlah
@ol’ Brother mhoffman953……………..go on. Go on. And the fate of George Will? What made his case so special that you skipped it?
mhoffman953
@BobLaBlah My comment was in response to the main topic of you being shocked of the women of Fox News wearing dresses on the air.
I skipped over the George Will bit because I felt he was irrelevant and didn’t want my response to be too verbose, but if you want me to address the craziness of George Will then I will: Making up lies about Ebola and spreading false news suits him perfectly at his new job at the Washington post.
Bob LaBlah
@mhoffman……………..You never quit, do you? What lies did Will tell about Ebola and share with us a link to back up your claim of the false news he was spreading. Will was dismissed from Fox (his contract wasn’t renewed and every one knew why) because of his strong belief and editorials pointing out why Trump has no business in the Oval Office. And George Will is a neocon standing shoulder to shoulder with the Koch brothers who happen to feel the same way. Will also resigned last year in protest to the GOP for allowing conditions to fester to the point Donald Trump was able to sweep every nearly every state in the primaries.
Will predicted the same thing I harped on all of last year as well. That being that no matter who won we were all going to lose. Your comfortable with a knucklehead who drops a MOAB in Afghanistan on a mountain with the intention of warning Syria and the Russians of U.S. might and I see a situation where Putin now has to one-up him or else. This is getting scary and you are too stupid to see it. You don’t bomb a country while the President of China is still in yours. You wait till the guy leaves. What was the bombing of Syria so important that it couldn’t wait another day? What guarantees did it give Russia that China didnt make an agreement with the U.S. to say nothing while knowing those missiles were headed to Syria with Russian troops nearby? Now do you get why this guy is wrong for the job? I’ll bet you still don’t.
1EqualityUSA
Crickets.
mhoffman953
@BobLaBlah
George Will lied about how Ebola is spread when criticizing the Obama administration’s handling of the disease in 2014: http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/oct/19/george-will/george-will-claims-sneeze-cough-spread-ebola/
George Will did not have a show on Fox and was merely a guest on some shows, just like he was years prior on CNN. Fox didn’t renew his contract just like they didn’t renew many other contributing guest contracts, networks do this every few months with adjunct commentators on their programs. You even stated he’s a neocon and friends with the Koch brothers but for some reason you’re defending him. Strange.
Then you say this, “Your comfortable with a knucklehead who drops a MOAB in Afghanistan on a mountain with the intention of warning Syria and the Russians of U.S.”
I’m unclear of the point you are trying to make. The MOAB was an attack on a tunnel network in Afghanistan leading to Pakistan used by ISIS. Syria and Russia were not warned of this mission. The tomahawk missiles in Syria are a separate event and have nothing to do with the MOAB launch.
Also, regarding the MOAB, Pentagon officials say the generals have had the authority to launch whatever ordnance they had in response against ISIS since January last year and only received the MOAB in January of this year. Being that this was a deep underground network and was being actively used at the time, the MOAB was the best weapon to use for the operation according to top US generals.
However, it’s fun to hear you spout off about what is proper and improper protocol regarding military operations as if you are a general LOL. Did you even serve in the armed forces?
MediaGuy
Wow. Heavy editing Queerty.
radiooutmike
Hey, and don’t bring Shep Smith into this! Unless of course, you are mentioning a 3-way between myself, Shep and Anderson.