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One hopes that with the death of the legendary media magnate Roger Ailes, the era of powerful white men dangling jobs in return for sex and wielding enormous power over ambitious (often young) women, died with him.
Ailes, who died Thursday at age 77, was indisputably a master of the media and political universe. As the architect of Fox News Channel, Ailes built the network from nothing in 1996 into a politically conservative behemoth that has long dominated other cable channels in ratings and influence.
For his prodigious skills and remarkable abilities to influence, alienate and dominate television, Ailes should be admired — even if you abhor him.
But as a boss, he should be reviled for the toxic workplace he created, particularly for women.Too many female employees have said he terrorized them with insults, threats and hollow promises.
Ailes should stand as Exhibit A on how not to behave at work.
Last summer, on-air host, Gretchen Carlson, courageously went public with a lawsuit claiming Fox didn’t renew her contract because she rejected Ailes’ sexual advances. Ailes, according to her suit, said they “should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better,” adding that “sometimes problems are easier to solve” that way.
Few thought much would happen, myself included. Carlson waited until after leaving Fox to go public. Besides, sexual harassment allegations against Ailes had been floating around for years. But Carlson’s bravery sparked an investigation into Ailes and Fox’s culture. Two weeks later, Ailes was forced to resign from the network he created and left in ignominy, while forcefully denying the accusations.
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Over 20 women came forward saying he sexually harassed them over his decades in TV, including former Fox uber star Megyn Kelly. They had similar stories of sexual harassment, each more sickening as they were piled on the career of a man who let his power and libido consume him. He traumatized young women, often leaving them as emotional road kill while he blithely moved forward.
Ailes’ unprofessional, unforgivable behavior cost Fox’s parent company dearly. The Murdoch-family owned parent of Fox has paid out $45 million to settle sexual harassment claims and the company sent Ailes packing with a golden parachute valued at $40 million.
Imagine how much more constructively that $85 million could have been used.
By all accounts, Ailes ran the Fox work environment like something out of the 1960s Mad Men era. Only his reign took place in the 1990s and onward, when mores had positively progressed and women were making impressive professional strides based solely on their smarts and merits.
The times Ailes resided in harken back to the 1950s and 1960s when often the only way a woman could get a promotion was to recklessly flirt or sleep with her manager. If you don’t believe me, watch Mad Men or read Lynn Povich’s true tale, The Good Girls Revolt, about working at Newsweek magazine in the 1960s, to get an accurate flavor of the times.
With Ailes, the upward ladder seemed easier to climb if a female employee was attractive and dressed alluringly. Talent helped. Presentation mattered, as exemplified when Ailes demanded female on-air talent wear dresses to highlight their legs. (Ailes’ short skirt policy is now history.)
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This shouldn’t be surprising about Ailes. The man from Warren, Ohio, born in 1940, told a biographer that his dream was for America to return to her best self. For Ailes, that was in the Midwest circa 1955. Around that era, sexual stereotyping and discrimination ran rampant and unchecked.
Kudos to all the women of Fox, young and old, who bravely shared their Ailes stories and exposed the emotional toll each one experienced.
Ailes was an enormously talented man who created a political juggernaut with Fox News. He had a special aptitude for discovering and developing rising stars. He understood television and how to best exploit its reach better than 95% of those in the field.
And yet, he squandered those gifts.
Instead of a lasting legacy as a cable world giant who revolutionized the industry, his legacy will always be marred by the many ways he took advantage of women who worked for him, looked up to him, and expected so much more professionalism than they got.
Alicia Shepard is a veteran media writer and a former ombudsman for NPR. Follow her on Twitter @Ombudsman
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