美国国家公共电台 NPR Fresh Headache For Murdochs: Bill O'Reilly Got Raise After Secret Payout

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Thirty-two million dollars - that's how much money Bill O'Reilly agreed to pay to a colleague at Fox News to keep her allegations of sexual harassment¹ a secret. That was in January, and it just came out in a report over the weekend. Fox News knew about the accusations² and the settlement, and it signed O'Reilly to a big new contract anyway. NPR's David Folkenflik reports.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE³: Former Fox News star Megyn Kelly started her hour of NBC's "Today" show focused on her former network.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TODAY")

MEGYN KELLY: The news about Bill O'Reilly and Fox News - have you seen it?

FOLKENFLIK: Kelly noted⁴ that O'Reilly had previously⁵ paid five other women to dispose of their accusations. This new disclosure exceeded them all.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TODAY")

KELLY: It is shocking, and it's upsetting to many of us. I spent this weekend on the phone nonstop talking to many women at Fox News and otherwise who are deeply disturbed over the latest New York Times report.

FOLKENFLIK: The person making the complaint was Lis Wiehl, a Harvard law graduate, university professor, author and longtime Fox News legal commentator⁶. As The New York Times first reported this weekend, Wiehl drafted a lawsuit⁷ accusing O'Reilly of sexually harassing⁸ her, sending her gay pornography and even of a non-consensual sexual relationship, an unclear term with deeply disturbing implications. O'Reilly agreed in January to pay her $32 million. She released O'Reilly and Fox News from any legal claims.

The Murdoch family that controls Fox News and its parent company, 21st Century Fox, now concedes it knew about the settlement when it signed O'Reilly to a splashy contract in February. The parent company says it didn't know the big-dollar figure, and it says any network would have done the same given O'Reilly's ratings. The Times reported O'Reilly was ousted⁹ as earlier settlements became known. And 21st Century Fox's top lawyer said federal prosecutors¹⁰ would learn of the settlement as part of a larger criminal investigation¹¹. Employment lawyer Doug Wigdor represents 1 of the other 5 women.

DOUG WIGDOR: They didn't terminate him when they knew about the information. They renewed his contract. They gave him a pay raise. And they only got rid of O'Reilly once the information finally became public.

FOLKENFLIK: O'Reilly recently told New York Times reporters they were getting the story wrong.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BILL O'REILLY: This is crap, and you know it. It's politically and financially motivated. And we can prove it with shocking information.

FOLKENFLIK: So far, that information has not been made public. Indeed, the settlement ensured that all photos, text messages and other communications between O'Reilly and Wiehl would be erased¹². Lawyer Doug Wigdor argues that's troubling.

WIGDOR: There was the destruction of evidence.

FOLKENFLIK: Federal prosecutors are questioning witnesses about the activities of the network's former president, former top lawyer, former chief financial officer, current publicity¹³ chief and others according to two people familiar with the investigation. Megyn Kelly left Fox earlier this year. She had joined other women in accusing chairman Roger Ailes of harassment in July 2016. Rupert Murdoch and his sons have promised a cultural change for the network. This morning, Megyn Kelly argued that not enough had changed.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TODAY")

KELLY: This must stop - the abuse of women, the shaming of them, the threatening, the retaliation¹⁴, the silencing of them after the fact. It has to stop.

FOLKENFLIK: The Murdochs are keenly sensitive to another audience thousands of miles away. British officials are giving increasingly tough scrutiny¹⁵ to their proposed $15 billion takeover of the European television giant Sky. David Folkenflik, NPR News, New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF IAMNOBODI'S "BEST BELIEVE")

1 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

2 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

6 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

7 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

8 harassing   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• The court ordered him to stop harassing his ex-wife. 法庭命令他不得再骚扰前妻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was too close to be merely harassing fire. 打得这么近，不能完全是扰乱射击。 来自辞典例句

9 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

10 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

11 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

12 erased   

v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除

参考例句：

• He erased the wrong answer and wrote in the right one. 他擦去了错误答案，写上了正确答案。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He removed the dogmatism from politics; he erased the party line. 他根除了政治中的教条主义，消除了政党界限。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

14 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。