Gretchen Carlson suing Roger Ailes for sexual harassment

Invest in the non-iron shirts. They work.

 

Some of them do... I'm a bit of a shirt snob (only the Charles Thywritt shirts for me). The moment I get home, the shirts, non-iron or not, go back on the rack. I actually like the process of ironing -- makes me a bit of a weirdo.

 

Same in Canuckistan, some of them avoid the creepy pervs by posting nothing but weather news but some of them encourage that behaviour by posting "look at me" shots and one of them set the bar pretty low with her ridiculous "tell me how great I look in this" outfit of the day posts. I am convinced one of them could post a picture of a 10-foot pile of shit with a star on top and say this was her Christmas tree and some love struck fanboi looser would immediately comment "Beautiful, just like you! XOXOXO"

 

Some nice inside info from our TV folks (and former TV folks) on this thread. We ink-stained wretches appreciate it!

Re: fewer good applicants. That's true for those of us in the daily newspaper world, too ... and when I look at J-Jobs I've noticed a TON of entry level TV openings, both in front of and behind the camera.

Maybe in a good economy, talented people are finally figuring out they can do better than the low wages and horrible hours of entry-level journalism.

 

A friend of mine and I were lamenting the good applicants in TV. He's trying to hire (as are we) and the quality and volume is down sharply.

Bitter old man moment.

Pre-Wikipedia, in 1997, a mentor told me whenever I interview at a station, to memorize the top three stories of the morning before the interview.

The last three years when I was interview, in each market, I could name the 15-20 counties, where they were, their demographics and who was the congress member for each.

The level of comfort and confidence in each interview led to offers in 8 of the 11 interviews. Of course, I chose to stay here because after a year of dancing with others, life turned out best where I lived.

I loved the research of each new place because I am curious.

I don't see that often with the applicants we interview. They're tied to their phones, obsessed with selfies. Sometimes, they can't even identify primary cities or even competitors. These are people that we fly in.

 

Here's a compilation of questionable crosstalk from Carlson's co-hosts

This Supercut Shows Just a Few of the Infuriating Comments Gretchen Carlson Dealt with on 'Fox and Friends'

 

I saw that as well. That's part of FNC's shtick and where does it go from their brand to harassment?

My own guess: Carlson was probably harassed as you can see from the supercut but did it reach a point of damages? Were they like this to her off the air as well?

From the FNC I do watch, there has always been an air of "we're going to make comments on your dress" on most of their morning programs. It's juvenile and I think uncomfortable.

I'd say I am much more in tune with this in that my daughter wants to be a TV sports anchor. This is not an environment that I think would be healthy towards that.

I also do think her case would have much more merit if she filed the suit before her contract was not renewed.

TV newsrooms, ESPECIALLY morning shows, have a level of informality off the air. Instead of 50 people in a newsroom with managers all around, there are 7 of us each morning. Two anchors, two producers, a reporter, a photographer and an editor. Add in 3 people who work in production (non-newsroom - they're in the control room).

We all know each other's business because we are held hostage to each other in a way. Are we bawdy and off-color? Sure. Are we cynical? It's a TV newsroom.

Do I make negative or prying comments about the personal lives of my co-workers? Nope. I'm the old man on the crew. The main reasons are a) decency and b) if someone gets fired, I don't want a lawsuit against me over something I may have said, even in jest.

Carlson's role with FNC felt undefined to me. Sometimes she would be on with those two goofballs in the mornings. Sometimes she would be on O'Reilly for some political analysis.

My guess is they canned her because she was probably pretty expensive. She came from LA, I believe.

 

Brian Kilmeade could write for this board.

 

Unless I missed something, she is alleging that Ailes harrassed her, not her co-hosts.

 

That may be true but the jocular atmosphere will likely play a role I imagine.

 

Not looking good for Carlson in court of TV news gossip opinion.

Appears that handwritten notes surfaced from 2015 where she writes Ailes, essentially begging to fill in for Megyn Kelly or other prime time anchors.

General rule of TV: The boss comes to you and asks if you can fill in. You don't ask the boss.

I want to say that, instead of Carlson, they went with Martha MacCallum to fill in. They're about the same age (low 50s) but, from a superficial standpoint, MacCallum is the far superior anchor. Composed on breaking news, talks a touch slower and isn't as hyper as Carlson when she anchors. Yes.... because I notice these things... MacCallum is, well, how do I say this nicely? She's gorgeous. Takes care of herself. Less sun damage.

To do the math...
Carlson gets snubbed for the prime time fill in.
Fox claims her ratings were down and now even Carlson's lawyers aren't attacking that.
She doesn't get renewed in June.
Files the suit in July.