Emily Steel and Michael S. Schmidt – The New York Times:
Fox News was facing a major advertising revolt on Tuesday as companies wary of the sexual harassment accusations against Bill O’Reilly continued to pull their ads from his prime-time cable news show.
Six more marketers said they were withdrawing ads from “The O’Reilly Factor,’’ making a total of eight that have suspended sponsorship in the last 24 hours.
I wonder if we’ve reached a tipping point in O’Reilly’s career. He’s been largely bullet-proof despite years of sexual harassment allegations and lawsuits. Now that Roger Ailes isn’t around to run interference for him, the tempo of complaints and advertiser defection has increased.
Maybe this did it:
The decisions come after The New York Times published an investigation last weekend that found that five women who had accused Mr. O’Reilly of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior received settlements totaling about $13 million.
$13 million in settlements to make nothing go away? The burden of proof in these claims was on the women who brought them. Fox’s attorneys likely wouldn’t advocate shelling out that much money unless there was jury-convincing evidence.
How many more lost advertisers will Fox tolerate? They’re running a business, and apparently employing Bill isn’t good for it.
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