September 6, 2016

Fox News Reportedly to Pay Gretchen Carlson $20 Million for Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

Half of what the network paid Roger Ailes to step down as chairman.


Fox News is reportedly set to pay former news host Gretchen Carlson $20 million to settle the bombshell sexual harassment case she launched against Roger Ailes, the company’s now ousted chairman. News of the settlement, which was first reported by Vanity Fair, comes just two months after Carlson filed suit, which alleged Ailes fired her from the network after she refused his sexual advances.

Both Fox News and Carlson issued the following statements Monday morning:

On Friday, New York published a deeply reported and revealing account of the sexual harassment scandal rocking Fox News. Since Carlson filed suit, more women have come forward with their own stories alleging inappropriate sexual behavior by Ailes over the past three decades.

Ailes, who has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, was forced to resign from his position soon after Carlson’s lawsuit became public. Fox News paid the disgraced CEO $40 million to leave—double what it’s paying to settle Carlson’s lawsuit.

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“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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