The scandal took a toll inside the news organization. "By bringing Fox into the light of day, we've been able to show how secrecy hurts all of us," Smith said. Smith says her firm alone was eventually contacted by nearly 30 women. Within days, numerous women came forward with similar harassment claims. When her client refused and went public with her complaint that Ailes thwarted her career because she would not have sex with him, "that opened the floodgates" for other accusers, Smith said. Smith said she wrangled with attorneys for Ailes, who wanted to deal with Carlson's sexual-harassment allegations through a secret, non-public arbitration process. What became clear over the past 10 months is that the best way to attack a news company is by making news. Carlson settled her lawsuit for $20 million, and according to a New York Times investigation, O'Reilly and 21st Century Fox have paid $13 million to settle complaints lodged by five women dating to 2002. Ailes, who has denied wrongdoing, got a $40 million payout when he resigned, while O'Reilly walked away with $25 million. Such moves could address workplace and financial concerns: Companies that spend large sums settling sexual-harassment complaints can draw the ire of shareholders. And the New York-based news operation has assigned a human resources employee to work out of its large Washington bureau. Fox has brought on a new human resources director, and all employees have now undergone "sensitivity training," company officials said. A former staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, agreed: "Ailes and O'Reilly might be gone, but the rest of the power structure is unchanged."įox executives are eager to counter the notion that nothing will change. Smith says it is hard for her to imagine a major culture shift at Fox many key executives she described as "enablers" of Ailes and others remain in top executive positions. Still, the cavalcade of developments dampened morale among rank-and-file staffers, according to current and former Fox employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution or because of nondisclosure agreements. Even as the O'Reilly accusations were prompting an advertiser boycott, his show remained atop the list of most-watched cable news programs. O'Reilly has called the claims against him unfounded and Fox has remained a ratings force. In an interview Thursday, Nancy Erika Smith - the attorney who represented former Fox anchor Gretchen Carlson in the legal claim that triggered Ailes's downfall - said she would file additional lawsuits next month. political landscape over the past two decades. The melodrama coincides with a generational shift in leadership as Rupert Murdoch's sons, Lachlan and James, assert more control over a lucrative channel that has played an outsize role in shaping the U.S. The departure Wednesday of O'Reilly, Fox's biggest star, caps a bruising 10-month slog during which the network's all-powerful guiding light and chief executive officer, Roger Ailes, was forced to resign over multiple sexual- misconduct allegations, and some of its biggest names, including anchors Greta Van Susteren and Megyn Kelly, left to join competitors. At a moment when the conservative juggernaut might have been strutting with Republicans in the White House and firmly in control of Congress, the network is instead operating in an almost continuous cycle of bad publicity and damage control. The accusations by Burgess - who first disclosed her claims anonymously through her attorney on Tuesday and has now publicly identified herself - added one more discordant note to a crescendo of scandal that has shaken America's most watched cable news network over the past year. She also explained to her client in stark terms what she hoped to accomplish: "The mission was to bring down Bill O'Reilly." "Do you think Rosa Parks decided she was not going to do what she needed to do because people were going to say nasty things to her?" Bloom said, citing the heroine of the Montgomery bus boycott. So, Bloom invoked civil rights history to say the words that finally persuaded Burgess, a former Fox temp worker who is African-American. Afraid that a powerful man would ruin her life for daring to cross him. Afraid of Twitter trolls and other haters. She wanted to go public, to tell the world about her claims that the Fox News megastar Bill O'Reilly ogled her at their workplace and suggestively called her "hot chocolate."īut Perquita Burgess was afraid, her attorney Lisa Bloom said.