Television after WWII, with huge ad budgets, amplified the culture of misogyny growing wild in the business. Mainstream and nightly news reporting gave way to subscription cable entertainment news 24/7 and digital adaptations. Paid streaming services began offering racier fare and less viewer discretion.
But something about entertainment news seemed to kick cultures of sexual abuse up a notch, with scandals at FOX (former CEO Roger Ailes, deceased, and Bill O’Reilly, primetime show host); NBC (TODAY host Matt Lauer); CBS/Paramount (former CEO Les Moonves); and PBS (Charlie Rose, host of the eponymous talk show). Now ABC has joined ranks.
ABC
The Cut2 released an “explosive exposé” January 29 (2023), diving deeper into the on-camera affair of fired ABC/GMA3 (lunch segment) co-anchors T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach. Statements from crewmembers alleged they were eyewitnesses to that event and other “generally pervasive misconduct“ at the network.
FOX
Fox News ex-bookkeeper Laurie Luhn filed a second lawsuit in January (2023) against FNN and its former executive Bill Shine. According to Bloomberg3, Luhn’s new lawsuit charges Fox with discrimination and negligence, and Shine for enabling Ailes, her abuser for 20 years. “’Booking meeting’ was code for [me] to meet with Ailes to be assaulted,” Luhn said.
CBS
And a $30.5 million settlement was negotiated in November (2022) between CBS’ parent company Paramount Global, CBS former CEO Leslie Moonves and New York AG Letitia James after an investigation revealed attempts by CBS heads to cover up sex assault allegations against Moonves. Part of the coverup included attempts to silence his victims.
“During Moonves’ tenure, men at CBS News who were accused of sexual misconduct were promoted, even as the company paid settlements to women with complaints.”4
– New Yorker (July 28, 2018)
NBC
In late 2017 just as the Harvey Weinstein controversy launched #MeToo, Matt Lauer, longtime NBC co-host of the Today Show with Katie Couric, was charged with sexual misconduct at the 2014 Sochi Olympics by a female employed at NBC, opening a floodgate of accusations. He was fired without pay.
In October 2019, Variety5 published an excerpt from Ronan Farrow’s book, Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators6, in which “former NBC News employee Brooke Nevils alleged Matt Lauer raped her in his hotel room at the Sochi Olympics.”
PBS
Ailes, Moonves, and Lauer claimed innocence. Charlie Rose apologized, saying, “All of us are just now learning about the severity of sexual harassment.”
That’s putting it mildly.
